2024-07-22 | Basic life support procedure on the now softer hospital mattresses, Erasmus MC

Last year the mattresses in the Erasmus MC on the normal ward have been replaced by a softer mattress to prevent decubitus. This could have a consequence for the efficiency of the thoracic compressions: You may compress the mattress instead of the thorax. The quality of compressions is at stake. To prevent this, a stiff backboard will be placed under the back of the  patient.  This placement takes time. During this positioning of the backboard compressions cannot be given, while we know that this is a very important part of the basic life support. Placing the backboard can be physically (too) heavy for the members of the resuscitation team. Furthermore intravenous lines and tubes may be torn out as we do this placement in a hurry.