Chest Compression With Personal Protective Equipment During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Randomized Crossover Simulation Study

Following a chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear incident, prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedure is essential for patients who suffer cardiac arrest. But CPR when wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) before decontamination becomes a challenge for healthcare workers (HCW). Although previous studies have assessed the impact of PPE on airway management, there is little research available regarding the quality of chest compression (CC) when wearing PPE. A present randomized cross-over simulation study was designed to evaluate the effect of PPE on CC performance using mannequins. The study was set in one university medical center in the China. Forty anesthesia residents participated in this randomized cross-over study. Each participant performed 2 min of CC on a manikin with and without PPE, respectively. Participants were randomized into 2 groups that either performed CC with PPE first, followed by a trial without PPE after a 180-min rest, or vice versa. CPR recording technology was used to objectively quantify the quality of CC. Additionally, participants’ physiological parameters and subjective fatigue score values were recorded. With the use of PPE, a significant decrease of the percentage of effective compressions (41.3 ± 17.1% with PPE vs 67.5 ± 15.6% without PPE, P < 0.001) and the percentage of adequate compressions (67.7 ± 18.9% with PPE vs 80.7 ± 15.5% without PPE, P < 0.001) were observed. Furthermore, the increases in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and subjective fatigue score values were more obvious with the use of PPE (all P < 0.01). We found significant deterioration of CC performance in HCW with the use of a level-C PPE, which may be a disadvantage for enhancing survival of cardiac arrest.