Recovery Position - History

History

The earliest recognition that placing an unconscious patient on their side would prevent obstruction of the airway was by Robert Bowles, a doctor at the Victoria Hospital in Folkestone, England. In 1891 he presented a paper title 'On Stertor, Apoplexy, and the Management of the Apoplectic State' in relation to stroke patients with noisy breathing from airway obstruction (also known as stertor).

This paper was taken up by anaesthetist Frederick Hewitt from the London Hospital who advised a sideways position for postoperative patients. This thinking was, however, not widely adopted, with surgical textbooks 50 years later still recommending leaving anaesthetised patients in a supine position.

First aid organisations were similarly slow in adopting the idea of the recovery position, with 1930s and 1940s first aid manuals from the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance both recommending lying a patient on their back. The 1938 British Red Cross First Aid Manual goes so far as to instruct "place the head in a such as position that the windpipe is kept straight, keeping the head up if the face is flushed, and in line with the body if it is pale". By contrast, the St. John manual advocated turning the head to the side, but it was not until the 1950 40th edition of the St John Manual that it was added "if breathing is noisy (bubbling through secretions), turn the patient into the three-quarters prone position", which is very similar to a modern recovery position.

A large number of positions were experimented with, mostly in Europe, as the United States did not widely take up the recovery position until its adoption by the American Heart Association in 1992. Positions included the "Coma Position", "Rautek's Position" and the "HAINES (High Arm IN Endangered Spine) position".

In 1992, the European Resuscitation Council adopted a new position where the arm nearest the floor was brought out in front of the patient, whereas it had previously been placed behind the patient. This change was made due to several reported cases of nerve and blood vessel damage in the arms of patients.

ILCOR made its recommendations on the basic principles for recovery positions in 1996, but does not prescribe a specific position, and consequently, there are several in use around the world.