The actions taken during the first few minutes of a medical emergency are critical to victims of cardiac and respiratory arrest. For these victims, the delivery of early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is considered the best treatment available until advanced life support can be supplied to help restore the normal function of the heart and respiratory system.

CPR involves a combination of mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing and chest compressions which together help to keep some oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs. When CPR is performed promptly and effectively it can more than double a victim's chance of survival. However, due to the difficulties associated with performing effective CPR, statistics show that victims often receive ineffectual CPR and as a result only have a 10-15% chance of surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest.

CPR Ezy™ was designed to assist inexperienced rescuers perform the full ABC (airway, breathing and circulation) of resuscitation. CPR Ezy incorporates two pieces of equipment; CPR Ezy-Pad, a chest compression device, and CPR Ezy-Mask, a ventilation Mask. Also contained in the CPR Ezy carry case are two pairs of gloves, one instruction sheet, and a nine-volt battery for powering the CPR Ezy-Pad.

Background Information

CPR Ezy was invented in Australia by Dr Andrew Davaris and Mr George Karlis. Dr Davaris is a General Practitioner based in Victoria, Australia, with extensive experience on the hospital emergency units. It was during his time on these units that Dr Davaris became concerned with the significant number of cardiac arrest patients that presented suffering serious physical injury such as broken ribs, rib separations and punctured lungs. The obvious cause of this physical injury was, in many cases, a direct result of excessive and improperly performed chest compression carried out by well-meaning CPR rescuers. Clinical and experimental studies confirm that this technique is effective when performed properly, however, the probability of properly performed CPR was extremely low. The studies show that inexperienced rescuers face a number of difficulties in achieving adequate and effective CPR. These include:

• Overcoming the fear and reluctance of having to make contact with the patient to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation.
• Locating the correct area on the sternum (breastbone) to place the hands for external cardiac compression.
• The difficulty of remembering how much force to apply to the chest during external cardiac compression.
• The task of performing external cardiac compression at the optimal rate of 100 beats per minute.
• Performing CPR effectively for periods of 20 minutes or more.
• Succumbing to fatigue/exhaustion and the impact this has on effective CPR.
• Trying to assess whether fatigue is having a negative effect on the adequateness of the CPR being delivered.
• Remembering the correct sequence of events to perform effective CPR.

All of these factors, and a host of others, have a negative effect and contribute to a decreased effectiveness of basic life support performed by both experienced and inexperienced rescuers.

Many of these issues have plagued CPR since it was first performed in 1960. Dr Davaris and his colleague, George Karlis, set about developing a user-friendly assistance device, which can help take the fear and guesswork out of CPR. Following years of development, refinements, and input from a range of medical specialists, CPR Ezy-Pad and CPR Ezy-Mask were developed.