Post by Ausfan on Sept 27, 2014 0:06:07 GMT
Article from Australia's 'Herald Sun' on 25th September 2014.
ABBA’s SOS may be a baby lifesaver when it comes to CPR
SWEDISH pop stars ABBA may have created a lifesaver with their hit, SOS.
Research by the Royal Women’s Hospital has revealed that the tune provides the perfect pace for doctors and nurses to deliver CPR to newborn babies.
The Deputy Director of Newborn Research, Dr Jennifer Dawson, said playing music could ensure that clinicians give the right number of cardiac compressions to ventilation.
The hospital’s Professor Peter Davis and Dr Charles Christoph Roehr had previously found that a German march, which was 110 beats a minute, helped workers deliver better CPR.
Dr Dawson said their team sought to find songs that people would be more familiar with, but had a similar beat.
“If you are doing co-ordinated resuscitation, you need to get 120 beats per minute so it made sense to have a piece of music that kept the same time,” she said.
In the UK, the Bee Gees hit, Stayin’ Alive, which is 105 beats a minute, is used to teach members of the public the correct pace.
Dr Dawson said the songs they trialled were Gloria Gaynor’s I will Survive, Jingle Bells and SOS— all 120 beats a minute. She said babies needed much faster chest compressions than adults, because their heart beat faster naturally at their age.
