A really cool thing happened this week. I was reading an NPR blog and stumbled across a BBC discussion of a study by the University of Illinois College of Medicine recommending the use of 1977 Bee Gees disco anthem hit, "Stayin' Alive," to time CPR compressions. The song's beat is 103 per minute, a mere three away from the recommended rate. The American Heart Association supports this technique to time compression delivery and reports having used the song as a training tip for the past two years.I found this information not only entertaining, but thought it might actually be really useful, so I sent it out to my program's listserv.
A few days later, a classmate sent an email response to our listserv:
"Just wanted to say this actually works. I was in the ER for clinical yesterday and had the chance to perform CPR on someone. I actually sung 'Stayin' Alive' in my head, and staff members commented both during and afterward that my compressions had the perfect tempo and were very even in rhythm. Thank you, Maren and NPR."
Oh, NPR, I love you...
