Is it curtains for Nellie?

Julia Williams
Friday, December 18, 2009

People frequently suggest singing Nellie the Elephant (Nellie) to help maintain good compression rates during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but is this practice evidence-based? This prospective randomized crossover trial included 130 people who had little or no previous experience of CPR. Having given participants a brief training in chest compression they were asked to perform three sequences, pre-randomized for order, of 1-minute per sequence of continuous chest compressions on a skill meter resuscitation manikin accompanied by: repeated choruses of Nellie (105 beats per minute); repeated choruses of That's the Way (I like it) (109 beats per minute); and to no music at all.

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