Patent ID: 7108665

Claim:
A method for monitoring the compression of the chest of a patient, said method comprising: providing a chest compression monitor adapted to follow the movement of the chest of a patient undergoing compression, said chest compression monitor comprising an accelerometer adapted to sense upward and downward acceleration of the chest compression monitor, said compression monitor further adapted to output an acceleration signal indicative of the upward and downward acceleration of the chest; and a computer adapted to process the acceleration signal to determine the depth of chest compression and produce a compression signal indicative of the depth of compression of the patient's chest; placing the chest compression monitor in fixed relationship with the chest so that it follows the movement of the chest; causing at least one compression of chest of the patient; processing the acceleration signal with the computer, and determining the start of a compression without reference to an external reference, and thereafter calculating downward displacement of the chest using the acceleration signal; and producing the compression signal.