CPR or DNR?

Explanations

Pamphlet

Training for Resuscitation

Real Examples of Resuscitation

Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) means that if the heart stops, the patient does not want Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to try restarting the heart. DNR is only supposed to come into effect when the heart stops, which is rare, but long before that, most doctors give less treatment to people who choose DNR (details in the pamphlet and below). 

Giving someone CPR is described at: University of Washington, American Heart Association, Red Cross, Mayo Clinic. Patients who live to leave the hospital (a sixth to a quarter) usually usually stay alive for years, mostly without injury or mental decline, as discussed in the pamphlet and below. CPR allows organ donation in those who do not live. There are several videos at the bottom of this web page, giving people's experience with CPR. ​

Click for a PAMPHLET, and print pages 1-4. Pages from 5 to the end give the source notes and more information on each topic. It has far more information than this web page. (Calculations are in a spreadsheet.) Please send questions and comments to medfacts@globe1234.com

Here are some of the tradeoffs between DNR and CPR:

---

TRAINING FOR RESUSCITATION

A Regina Saskatchewan orientation video shows a team coming to revive a "patient" in a hospital. They use an actor and a dummy, showing a wide array of techniques available. The doctor handles timing of an AED, which is handled automatically by the AED outside a hospital. 14 minutes.
youtube.com/watch?v=U1zq4T7MEWw

---

U of California San Diego (UCSD) orientation video on how a trauma center helps patients. They do not show resuscitation, since it seems patients would be resuscitated by ambulance crew, though it may be needed again in the trauma center. They show how they evaluate the various wounds. 16 minutes.
youtube.com/watch?v=HcR4enuaEK0

---

REAL EXAMPLES OF RESUSCITATION

The Heart Association has training videos. The PulsePoint app lets 911 call citizens near a cardiac arrest who've been trained in CPR.

52-year-old Tony Gilliard from South Carolina narrates a video of his heart stoppage while playing basketball in 2013. CPR and AED brought him back. 2 minutes. youtu.be/v=YrBq_sFV3LA

---

62-year-old John Ellsworth's heart stopped in a British street. He needed 3 AED shocks to revive, then was taken to a hospital where they treated him, and eventually placed a defibrillator in his chest. 10 minute video narrated by the BBC series Real Rescues. youtu.be/nxpYuVr53zQ

---

71-year-old Nebraska lobbyist Tom Vickers collapsed in 2008 from a heart attack at the state Capitol. CPR and AED administered by a doctor on duty revived him. He was taken to a hospital, where they found 99% blockage in an artery. Video from security camera. no sound. 3 minutes.
News article: journalstar.com/news/local/quick-action-by-many-helps-lobbyist-survive-heart-attack/article_c64eb533-d5bb-5eae-99ee-54a7b12a414e.html
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=fNdDzmcwA0w

---

51-year-old Chris Solomons in Britain had a heart attack and felt his hands shake and his limbs tingle. He worked at a site which dispatched helicopter medics, and he was still not feeling well when he got there. The medics there took an EKG, which did not look right so they were getting ready to get him to a hospital, but he collapsed. They used CPR and 2 AED shocks to revive him, and flew him to a hospital where doctors found a blocked artery and opened it with a stent. 13 minutes. He says,

• "I’ve been able to experience so much and if it wasn't for the guys doing CPR on me and the AED they used I wouldn't be here.
• "I cannot say strongly enough how important it is that AEDs are in communities. Not in locked cupboards, but out there, placed where they are needed."

Text: heartrhythmcharity.org.uk/www/media/files/130213-sh-1-Chris_Solomons_case_study.pdf
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=w32PUDL2lb8

---

A man collapsed in a car, and police arrived to pull him from the car. They and a passing nurse gave CPR and AED. The wife panicked, swore, prayed, and yelled at her husband not to leave her. An ambulance arrived and took over. The man lived and left the hospital in a few days. The nurse and police were given awards for their fast action. It seems to be filmed from a camera mounted on the first police car. 4 minutes.
youtube.com/watch?v=HxlIAQj4IWY

---

An Augusta Georgia video shows two patients in the emergency room at the same time. Many of the comments heard on the video use abbreviated medical language. 11 minutes.

45-year-old runner who collapsed at a race got CPR immediately from other runners, and AED after 12 minutes. He was taken to the hospital and revived with cooling treatment. Revival required a breathing tube, which was removed 2 days later. 

65-year-old woman collapsed at home with husband, went several minutes without CPR. An ambulance crew got some response from her heart, using sodium bicarbonate and another medicine, but she died in the emergency room. youtube.com/watch?v=NWKyXYnvlpM

---

Ken is a Utah firefighter who has saved lives himself. He had a cardiac arrest in 2006 after practicing soccer with his wife and 5 children. His wife gave him CPR for 14 minutes, after telling the only bystander to call 911. Ken revived, and they are interviewed in this video. ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb4sU-Zt7CA

---

CPR saved the life of reporter Steve Lopez, and he wrote how it saved an ex-judge who collapsed while driving alone.

---