The doctors have found that placing victims on their side in the recovery position could make it harder to spot breathing difficulties. Using the recovery position also led to delays in administering CPR if a patient needs it.
In nearly half of the cases examined the first-aiders took longer than two minutes to notice a casualty had stopped breathing when they were in the recovery position.
Dr Miguel Freire-Tellado, who led the study at the Public Health Emergency Foundation in Spain, said official guidelines should be changed so the recovery position is used only in special circumstances. He said: ‘There may still be occasions when the recovery position might be used, such as if it is necessary to leave the victim alone. [But] it hindered breathing assessment.’
However, St John Ambulance said current advice should not be changed until there was more evidence on the matter.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
