When a Customer Collapses in the Pharmacy

A collapse in a busy retail space brings complications a hospital setting does not have. There is an audience, limited floor space, shelving in the way and staff who may never have seen anything like it. Deciding in advance who does what turns a chaotic scene into an ordered one.

Assign roles out loud

Point at specific people rather than making a general request, because a general request to a crowd usually results in nobody moving. Say clearly who is calling 000, who is fetching the defibrillator, who is clearing space and who is meeting the ambulance at the door and holding the lift if there is one.

Assess quickly

Check for danger, then squeeze the shoulders and speak loudly to check for a response. If there is no response, open the airway with a head tilt and chin lift and look for normal breathing for up to ten seconds. Agonal gasping is not normal breathing. If in any doubt, treat the person as being in cardiac arrest and start compressions, because the harm from unnecessary compressions is far smaller than the harm from a delayed start.

Compressions and the defibrillator

Push in the centre of the chest, about one third of the depth of the chest, at one hundred to one hundred and twenty compressions each minute. Apply the defibrillator as soon as it arrives and follow its voice prompts. Survival from cardiac arrest falls sharply for every minute without defibrillation, which is why knowing where the nearest unit is kept, whether in your store or in the shopping centre, is worth confirming today rather than during an emergency.

Common causes you may be able to identify

Not every collapse is a cardiac arrest. A simple faint resolves within a minute once the person is lying flat. Hypoglycaemia in a known diabetic who is conscious and able to swallow is managed with oral glucose. A seizure requires you to protect the head, avoid restraining the person and time the episode. Your dispensing history may tell you something useful, but never delay resuscitation to look it up.

Look after your team afterwards

Witnessing a resuscitation is confronting, particularly for younger retail staff. Debrief the same day, walk through what happened without assigning blame, and make sure people know that a poor outcome does not mean the response was wrong.

Our CPR course takes ninety minutes and includes defibrillator training on a live trainer unit. Book your team in.