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A comparison of two-fingers technique and two-thumbs encircling hands technique of chest compression in neonates

Journal of Perinatology volume 32, pages 690–694 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Objective:

To compare the proportion of correct placements (POCP) between ‘two-fingers’ and ‘two-thumbs’ techniques of chest compression among neonates of various gestations.

Study Design:

Two-fingers and two-thumbs spans of 32 adult rescuers were individually compared with the inter-nipple line to sterno-xiphoid junction distance of 39 neonates. ‘Correct placement’ was defined if two-fingers/two-thumbs span was equal to or less than the inter-nipple line to sterno-xiphoid junction distance. The POCPs was compared between two-fingers and two-thumbs methods of chest compression by the McNemar test among neonates and their various subgroups.

Result:

There were a total of 1248 comparisons. The POCPs with two-fingers and two-thumbs techniques were 6.7 and 77% in all neonates, 10.6 and 89.5% in full term and 1.2 and 59% in preterm neonates, respectively (P<0.001).

Conclusion:

Two-thumbs technique achieved higher POCPs and should be preferred over two-fingers technique among neonates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Neonatal Unit, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

    S S Saini, N Gupta & P Kumar

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Anthropology Unit, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

    A K Bhalla & H Kaur

Authors
  1. S S Saini
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  2. N Gupta
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  3. P Kumar
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  4. A K Bhalla
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  5. H Kaur
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P Kumar.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors contribution

Shiv Sajan Saini conceived the idea, planned the study, did statistical analysis and wrote the initial draft. Neeraj Gupta extracted, analyzed and summarized the data. Praveen Kumar planned the study, supervised data analysis, revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content and finalized the manuscript. Anil Kumar Bhalla planned the measurement methods and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. Harvinder Kaur performed anthropometrical measurements and helped in writing the initial draft.

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Saini, S., Gupta, N., Kumar, P. et al. A comparison of two-fingers technique and two-thumbs encircling hands technique of chest compression in neonates. J Perinatol 32, 690–694 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2011.167

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