Sunday, October 26, 2008  chest compression  I recertified my
CPR A (adult single operator) and Emergency First Aid this
morning. That means I met with an instructor and a group of
other people who were already trained but our certificates were
near expiry, and we did the quick refresher course (in our case
3 1/2 hours, including breaks) to get the updates, be sure we
can still remember how to do it, and receive our certificates.
CPR changes a bit every time you take it. Recently a switch has
been made to simplify it for lay people (not nurses, lifeguards
or ambulance attendants) so that the rescuer doesn't waste any
time worrying about the finer points of the protocol, but
instead gets to the job at hand, operating as effectively as
possible. One change is that for any age of victim, the chest
compressions are now 30 compressions to 2 ventilations
(breaths). As for compressions per minute, there's a new trick
to get that right.  For my job, the certificate is good for two
years. It's a bit of a nuisance to