Dr Who-oo (hey!)

[johnckirk]

I've just watched the first episode of the new series of Dr Who (either the 29th or the 3rd, depending on who you ask), and I enjoyed it; I thought it was a fun episode, with interesting characters, and bodes well for future episodes. There was only one huge flaw in it, which I'm willing to overlook.

Comments

CPR

[susannahf]

Yes, I was shouting at that too. 5:1 did used to be the ratio for children up to the most recent guideline change, (and I think it still might be for medically trained personnel), but it sure as hell hasn't been an adult ratio for at least 5 years.
I can think of two possible explanations. Firstly, she's a medical student, and a lot of them don't learn CPR until near the end of their pre-clinical. But she's clinical, so that doesn't hold up. Second, 15:2 or 30:2 take a long time to do a cycle, which looks boring from a dramatic point of view.

Guess which one I'm going for...
In another issue, she should know that CPR probably doesn't /actually/ work by compressing the heart(s), it works by altering the pressure in the chest cavity. So she probably didn't need to do two sets of compressions. Oh, and I didn't see much of a breathing check going on there either. Or indeed a shout for help.
Conclusion: She would have failed any of my courses.

Re: CPR

[johnckirk]

Thanks for the second opinion - it's nice to know that I'm not the only person who keeps count when I see CPR in TV episodes or films :) I was a bit worried that you'd say something like "Actually, she's following the draft version of the 2008 protocols", which would have made me look a bit silly, so I'm glad you didn't

[stagknight]

Clearly it was a CPR montage, rather than just CPR.

[johnckirk]

That sort of works, I suppose :) I think it would have been better in that case to alternate between her and whatever else was going on at the time (the rhino guys fleeing?), so that when they flicked back to her she'd be saying "..., 28, 29, 30, [breathe, breathe], 1, 2, ...". That would solve the problem of boredom while still being accurate.

[elvum]

Didn't the Doctor say he came from Gallifrey to the spider-monster in the Christmas 2006 Special?

[johnckirk]

Possibly - I'll keep an eye out for any repeats of that episode.

[billyabbott]

He did - I caught the end of that while waiting for last night's repeat of the new series to start.

[billyabbott]

Just be thankful that she didn't just punch him in the chest a bit before leaning back on her heals and shouting "WHY WON'T YOU LIVE!!!".

[johnckirk]

Hmm, this suddenly gives me an evil idea for next year, when April 1st will be on a Tuesday (SJA class night day) :)

[pozorvlak]

Hehehe.

I remember watching the first episode of 24 with my parents, both of whom are ex-military, and both of whom had gone through the same military first-aid training. There's a bit where Jack Bauer takes his tie off to use as a tourniquet, at which point my parents both shouted "Now write a T and the time on his forehead!" at the screen :-)

[terpsichore1980]

Alternatively, perhaps she was in a state of (at least mild) panic, what with being transported to the moon, almost killed by rhino aliens, the low oxygen levels and the proximity of an MRI machine that she knew might be about to blow up the entire hospital. Perhaps in the heat of an extremely stressful situation (even for a junior doctor), all that came to mind was the ratio for infants, which has to be better than nothing ;-)

I think I am ok with the idea that a doctor might make a mistake in such circumstances...

[johnckirk]

As an explanation for the character's actions, that sounds reasonable, and no harm came of it. I'm a bit more dubious about that as a real-life theory, although as you say any CPR is better than none. Basically, I'd think that it's going to be a stressful situation if someone does keel over in front of you (particularly a close friend/relative), and so the point of the first aid training I do is to keep practicing CPR until everyone's sick of it, just so that you don't have to think about it in a crisis. I've never had to do it in a real situation, but I've spoken to people who have, and they've all basically said that the training takes over, and you leave the panic until afterwards.

The main reason I've been picking holes in it here (ditto for "Lost") is that there are lots of people who never go on a proper first aid course, and all they know about CPR is what they see on TV, so I'm trying to balance out the disinformation (although I obviously have a smaller audience than those TV programs).

[pozorvlak]

I didn't see the programme in question, but I've seen some really awful CPR on TV and in films. My impression was that it was generally getting better, as awareness of how to do it properly became more widespread in the population, but you'd know a lot better than me...