Comparison of four techniques on facility of two-hand Bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation: E-C, Thenar Eminence, Thenar Eminence (Dominant hand)-E-C (non-dominant hand) and Thenar Eminence (non-dominant hand) – E-C (dominant hand)

Introduction: Bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation is the first and important part of the airway management. The aim of present study was to evaluate the quality of four different BVM ventilation techniques – E-C, Thenar Eminence, Thenar Eminence (Dominant hand)-E-C (Non dominant hand), and Thenar Eminence (Non dominant hand)-E-C (Dominant hand) – among two novice and experienced groups.
Methods: In a case-control and mannequin based study that was conducted in Tabriz University of medical sciences, 120 volunteers were recruited and divided into two groups. 60 participants in experienced and other 60 as novice group who observed BVM ventilation but hadn’t practical experience about BVM ventilation. Every participant in both groups performed 4 BVM ventilation techniques under the supervision of an experienced assessor. Quality of mannequin chest expansion was recorded by two other experienced assessors who were blind to ventilation process. The data were analyzed with SPSS 17.0.
Results: In novice group, when evaluating each technique performance, they did Thenar Eminence (non-dominant hand) - E-C (dominant hand) technique much better than the others (P < 0.0001). But in the experienced group, there was no meaningful difference between the all four techniques (P = 0.102).
Conclusion: Novice participants did Thenar Eminence (non-dominant hand) - E-C (dominant hand) technique better than the others. Therefore, it is recommended that training of this technique was placed in educational program of medical students.