Nellie the Elephant may not be saving heart attack victims

Nellie the Elephant may not be saving lives when used by people administering chest compressions to heart attack victims.

In the US, the Bee Gees’ song Stayin’ Alive and in the UK Nellie the Elephant had been thought to be the ideal songs to aid those giving CPR.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation – CPR – as soon as possible does improve survival rates, but is often done badly, even by health care professionals.

But while using the tunes do help to maintain the right compression rate, those performing the CPR are still not going to the right compression depth of 5 – 6 cm.

Research published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, examined the success of giving CPR to Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus, or Disco Science by Mirwais, or with no music at all.

The proportion of volunteers who maintained compressions within the optimal range of 100 to 120 a minute was significantly higher when listening to Disco Science (82 per cent) than when listening to Achy Breaky Heart (64 per cent) or no music at all (65 per cent).

A third of compressions were still found to be too shallow and incorrect hand positioning was observed for over half to two thirds of all completed compressions.