Is there a term for this CPR technique that avoids direct respiration?

Question

When I was performing NBC training (now called CBRN) in the military there was a technique used for when a person needed CPR and you were both wearing a gas mask (or the person was missing a nose and/or jaw). The technique was roughly as follows:

With the person on their back, place an object between the lower shoulder blades then repeat the following steps:

1. Move the arms above the head like Superman
2. Lift the arms vertically like Frankenstein's monster
3. Cross the arms across the chest like Dracula and press
4. Repeat

This is interrupted periodically with the traditional chest compressions.

My question is: does there exist a name for this technique and is there a newer/different technique for these situations?

Answer 1

You may be describing the Silverster method and perhaps of use when there's a concern about Covid-19

In the 19th century, Doctor H. R. Silvester described a method (The Silvester Method) of artificial ventilation in which the patient is laid on their back, and their arms are raised above their head to aid inhalation and then pressed against their chest to aid exhalation.[156] The procedure is repeated sixteen times per minute. This type of artificial ventilation is occasionally seen in films made in the early 20th century.

But it is now recommended that modern CPR conducted by untrained people should not involve any mouth-to-mouth respiration and should just use chest compressions

Untrained. If you're not trained in CPR, then provide hands-only CPR. That means uninterrupted chest compressions of 100 to 120 a minute until paramedics arrive (described in more detail below). You don't need to try rescue breathing.

Trained and ready to go. If you're well-trained and confident in your ability, check to see if there is a pulse and breathing. If there is no breathing or a pulse within 10 seconds, begin chest compressions. Start CPR with 30 chest compressions before giving two rescue breaths.

Trained but rusty. If you've previously received CPR training but you're not confident in your abilities, then just do chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 a minute.

Some organisations are still yet to make recommendations about conducting CPR if the victim has Covid-19 and the person doing the CPR lacks any PPE.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/art-20056600