John,

I have several, all of which are different brands. Since I have only had to perform CPR in the back of an ambulance, or in the patients home and have had "full resuscitation" equipment, I have not had to use my pocket masks at any time. I do know the Laerdal masks are designed to actually fit an adult size BVM.

My primary carry pocket kit when on ambulance duty is the MDI rescue holster, which is found on the same website as Jim mentioned, just scroll down. I use the gloves from it with every patient contact and then replace them. I modified the contents of the holster when I noticed after a couple of years or so the mask was "splitting" from age. I put in the Laerdal key chain mask in a zip lock baggie and then added a small bottle of Purell. I actually have two pairs of gloves in the holster as one pair may rip, or you actually have to double glove.

Gloves in these kits (unless they are vinyl) should be replaced often as they deteriorate from age.

Take care,

Stargazer

Really? Not over here it isn't

I just "mock-ordered" the AMBU life key at a web site and it didn't say anything about having a prescription right before the "submit order" button is pushed.

maybe it's just a fluke kind of thing, does anyone want to email them and find out?

I'm an EMT-Intermediate, I work part time for a 911-only EMS system and I have done CPR for real. I have been the 2nd man on many ACLS calls (drugs, manual defib, 12-lead EKG, etc). Some points:

1) the little fold-up shields are definitely better than nothing, but if you're doing rescue breathing on your own (no BVM) I prefer the Laerdal pocketmask (or equivalent) with the 1-way valve. I keep a foldup shield on my person and a pocketmask in my bags/kits.

2) the AHA implemented compression-only CPR not because no one ever needs breaths but because untrained bystanders were avoiding doing any resuscitation at all due to valid fears of infection. The AHA has found that uninterrupted compressions are more important than breaths, so they figured compressions alone was better than nothing. If you have any decent training, however, you should include breaths and that leads to bullet point number 3...

3) cardiac arrest is NOT the only reason you may need to provide rescue breaths. Head injury, lightning strike, near drowning and overdoses are situations where the victim might have a pulse but their respiratory drive has been short circuited. Some properly-applied rescue breathing can potentially save their life.

"Coming back from the dead" after cardiac arrest is rare. Coming back after respiratory arrest is not as rare. It would be a shame if you couldn't provide those critical breaths.

Just as it is with so many of the things we discuss here: knowledge and training are more important than equipment selection. But when it comes to equipment, get the best you can carry.

Your local American Red Cross chapter offers a variety of CPR masks, from keychain masks to masks with oxygen inlets.

I have a couple of keychain masks and a couple of full sized ones. I have never had to use either yet, but I can vouch for their quality.

-Kurt

I don't want to slow the discussion, but I thought I'm mention that I ordered a couple of the Laerdal Pocket Masks for my wife and I.

Thanks for all the great discussion and recommendations so far.

-john

One thing that may be interesting, that I have already mentioned, is that if you take CPR for the professional rescuer, then they give you a ambu rescue mask, which you could use in one of your kits.

Oh also JohnN, from were did you order the pocket masks?

Interesting. My wife isn't a care provider, but does manage a medical clinic and she is taking the hands-on portion of their lifesaving course today. Be interesting to see if they get freebies.

I didn't ask details, this thread caused me to ask her about compression-only CPR, and she indicated they were not allowed to do compression-only CPR.

So what about practice with your mask? Would practice impact the performance of your mask? In other words, any reason not to use the mask while attending a class? What about sanitation, etc.?

Thanks,

-john