Cardiac Arrest on the Gym Floor

Sudden cardiac arrest during exercise is uncommon, but gyms are one of the more likely public places for it to happen, because exertion increases cardiac demand and because gyms concentrate a lot of people doing exactly that. The good news is that a witnessed arrest with immediate CPR and early defibrillation has a genuinely good survival rate.

Recognising it

The person collapses suddenly, is unresponsive, and is either not breathing or is making occasional noisy gasps. Those gasps mislead a lot of people into thinking the person is still breathing. They are not. Agonal gasping is a sign of cardiac arrest, not of recovery. If someone is unresponsive and not breathing normally, treat it as cardiac arrest and start immediately.

The first two minutes decide the outcome

Survival falls sharply for every minute without compressions and defibrillation. An ambulance in a metropolitan area may take eight to twelve minutes to reach the gym floor, so the outcome is largely determined by what happens before it arrives. Starting slightly imperfect compressions immediately is far better than starting perfect compressions two minutes later.

Running the response in a busy space

• Clear space around the person and move equipment out of the way
• Point at named individuals and assign tasks. One calls 000 on speaker, one gets the defibrillator, one meets the ambulance at the entrance and holds the lift
• Start compressions in the centre of the chest, one third of chest depth, at one hundred to one hundred and twenty each minute
• Swap the person doing compressions every two minutes, because quality drops sharply with fatigue and a gym is full of people who can take over
• Apply the defibrillator as soon as it arrives and follow its prompts

Know where your defibrillator is today

Most Australian gyms have a defibrillator, but plenty of trainers working in a facility could not say precisely where it is kept. Find out now, check that the pad expiry date is current, and make sure new staff are shown its location during induction. In a shared building, find out whether there is a closer unit in the lobby or in a neighbouring tenancy.

Afterwards

Document what happened while it is fresh, notify the facility manager, and check on the staff and members who witnessed it. A resuscitation is distressing to watch even when it goes well.

Our CPR course runs for ninety minutes and includes hands on defibrillator training. Find a session near you.