Infant ventilation and oxygenation by basic life support providers:  comparison of methods.
BACKGROUND
Little information is available in the performance of infant ventilation by basic life support (BLS) personnel.


OBJECTIVE
There are no significant differences between mouth-to-mouth (M-M), mouth-to-mask (M-Ma), pediatric bag-mask (PBM), and adult bag-mask (ABM) devices in the percent of acceptable breaths delivered by BLS providers.


METHODS
Fifty certified BLS providers performed five ventilation methods in random sequences for 60 seconds each on a 5kg infant mannequin following standardized instructions.  Supplemental oxygen, 10 l/min, was supplied with one M-Ma trial and PBM methods.  Airway patency, peak airway pressure (PAP), ventilatory rate (VR), tidal volume, and delivered oxygen concentration (FiO 2) were recorded.  The percent of breaths with excessive PAP (i.e., greater than 30 mmHg), percent of acceptable breaths using loose (i.e., 25-125ml) and strict (i.e., 50-100ml) criteria, and FiO 2 at 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds were compared between ventilation methods using ANOVA.


RESULTS
For all subjects and those with a patent airway (n=36), there were no significant differences in the percentage of acceptable breaths produced by PBM (56+/-6) (mean+/-SEM; all subjects) and ABM (41+/-6.2) was significantly greater than M-Ma, with and without a patent airway. Although RR and the percentage of excessive breaths were not significantly different, the percentage of acceptable breaths and FiO 2 delivered with each ventilation method was significantly better in the patent airway group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Terndrup
T E
TE
Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse 13210.
Warner
D A
DA
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000592:standards*; D008348:Manikins; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000379:methods*