Straddle versus Conventional Chest Compressions in aConfined Space; a Comparative Study

When cardiac arrest occurs in a confined space, such as in an aircraft or ambulance, kneeling bythe patient’s side may be difficult. Straddle chest compression is an alternative technique that can be used ina confined space. This study was performed to compare the quality of chest compressions in straddle versusconventional CPR on a manikin model.

The participants were randomized into two groups using thesequential numbered, opaque, sealed envelope method chosen through block-of-four randomization: strad-dle and conventional chest compression technique. Each participant performed a maximum of 4 minutes ofhands-only chest compressions, and quality parameters (compression rate and depth) were recorded from thedefibrillator’s monitor.

124 participants with mean age of 26.67 ± 6.90 years (27.58% male) were studied.There was no difference in the mean compression rate between the conventional and straddle chest compres-sion techniques (126.18 ± 17.11 and 127.01 ± 21.01 compressions/min, respectively; p = 0.811) or their meancompression depth (43.8 ± 9.60 and 43.4 ± 9.10 mm, respectively; p = 0.830). The participants’ comfort and fa-tigue were assessed through changes in their vital signs. In both methods, statistically significant differenceswere observed in vital signs before and after performing chest compression, but the differences were not clin-ically significant. In addition, there was no difference between the 2 groups in this regard.

Thequality of CPR using the straddle chest compression was as good as conventional chest compression technique.No significant differences were found in the quality of chest compressions or the participants’ comfort and fa-tigue levels.