San Francisco Quote Blog

CPR for dummies

The American Heart Association endorses a simplified method of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Here's a somewhat humorous video to illustrate the new technique:

It's not your parenents CPR. The previous recommended method for adults called for a combination of chest compression and artificial respiration. The artificial respiration part has been abandoned when performing CPR on adults.

The Wikipedia entry has been changed to reflect and explain the new method:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency medical procedure for a victim of cardiac arrest or, in some circumstances, respiratory arrest. CPR is performed in hospitals, or in the community by laypersons or by emergency response professionals.

CPR has for 50 years consisted of the combination of artificial blood circulation with artificial respiration (i.e. chest compressions and lung ventilation). However, in March 2008 the American Heart Association, in an historic reversal, endorsed the effectiveness of chest compressions alone--without artificial respiration (see 5.1 Cardiocerebral Resuscitation below). CPR is generally continued, usually in the presence of advanced life support, until the patient regains a heart beat (called "return of spontaneous circulation" or "ROSC") or is declared dead.

CPR in a nutshell

It's pretty simple. The American Heart Association has created a new website dedicated to the technique called Hands CPR Only:

When an adult suddenly collapses, trained or untrained bystanders – that means a person near the victim – should:

1) Call 911
2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest.

Studies of real emergencies that have occurred in homes, at work or in public locations, show that these two steps, called Hands-Only CPR, can be as effective as conventional CPR. Providing Hands-Only CPR to an adult who has collapsed from a sudden cardiac arrest can more than double that person’s chance of survival.

Comments

No one has commented yet.

Leave a comment