The change of compressing personnel will inevitably accompany hands off time when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed by two or more rescuers. The present study assessed whether changing compression by a second rescuer located on the opposite side (OS) of the first rescuer can reduce hands-off time compared to CPR on the same side (SS) when CPR is performed by two rescuers. The scenario of this randomized, controlled, parallel simulation study was compression-only CPR by two laypersons in a pre-hospital situation. Considering sex ratio, 64 participants were matched up in 32 teams equally divided into two gender groups, i.e. , homogenous or heterogeneous. Each team was finally allocated to one of two study groups according to the position of changing compression (SS or OS). Every team performed chest compression for 8 min and 10 sec, with chest compression changed every 2 min. The primary endpoint was cumulative hands-off time. Cumulative hands-off time of the SS group was about 2 sec longer than the OS group, and was significant (6.6 ± 2.6 sec vs. 4.5 ± 1.5 sec, P = 0.005). The range of hands off time of the SS group was wider than for the OS group. The mean hands-off times of each rescuer turn significantly shortened with increasing number of turns (P = 0.005). A subgroup analysis in which cumulative hands-off time was divided into three subgroups in 5-sec intervals revealed that about 70% of the SS group was included in subgroups with delayed hands-off time ≥ 5 sec, with only 25% of the OS group included in these subgroups (P = 0.033). Changing compression at the OS of each rescuer reduced hands-off time compared to the SS in prehospital hands-only CPR provided by two bystanders.
Keywords: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; Manikins.