I'm not too sure about the 'don't ventillate' mentalitity either......and I'm NOT saying that there shouldn't be ANY and neither are the governing bodies...I agree that we need to see what the long term studies say.....but more and more research is showing that even that 'quick pulse check' is dropping the oxygen level far below what the brain requires.....

We haven't stopped ventilating.....yet. But remember that even if you don't have a mask.....COMPRESS THE CHEST!!!!!!!!!! My medical director allows us to administer Diprivan prehospitally and WITHOUT having to call a doctor for permission! Some of our ER doctors can't continue it's administration because the hospital requires that an Anesthesiologist administer it....so we are pretty cutting edge in our care....and he is saying...don't be so fast to get that airway....compress first.....


In college, my biochemistry professor told us of the dean of a medical school who stood up at the podium at commencement and said, "I must, on behalf of this institution, apologize, because half of what we have taught you, is wrong. I must further apologize, because no one knows which half."

Kind of sums up medicine....things change so much and so frequently, that we can barely keep up...