This study asked an interesting question: “Is it safe for a rescuer to continue chest compressions during defibrillation of a rescuee?”

You’d think that with the high voltages involved, and mental images of TV doctors yelling “CLEAR!” before defibrillating, there’s no way it could be safe. Apparently, for a gloved rescuer, even with a “worst-case” accidental connection of electrodes between the two people, the leakage current is well within safety standards.

Between this and the recent change of guidelines for CPR (favoring chest compressions over combined compressions and breathing), the long-time typical methods of resuscitation are suddenly changing a lot.