Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a life-saving medical treatment aimed at maintaining the flow of blood and oxygen into the body when a person’s heart and breathing have stopped.
According to the American Heart Association, everybody, including untrained attendees and medical staff, should begin CPR with chest compression.
The procedure, when performed within the first six minutes of a heart stop, can keep a person alive until medical help arrives.
While rescue breathing techniques have traditionally been used to revive drowning victims, it was not until 1960 that external cardiac massage was an effective technique of revival. The American Heart Association then created a structured CPR program (AHA).
Recommended: Broken Nose First Aid Treatment
The American Heart Association recommends as follows:
- For Untrained Personnel: It is recommended that a person who is not qualified in Cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be able to provide hand-only CPR. This ensures that an uninterrupted chest compression of 100 to 120 per minute can be done before paramedics arrive. There’s no need to try rescue breathing.
- Trained personnel: An individual who is well trained and confident in his or her ability will check to see if there are pulse and breathing. If there is no pulse or breathing within 10 seconds, initiate chest compression. Start the CPR with 30 chest compressions before offering two rescue breaths.
- Trained But Rusty: An individual who has previously undergone CPR training but is not confident in his or her ability to perform chest compression at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute.
How To Perform CPR For Adults?
There are two main stages of Cardiopulmonary resuscitation:
Preparation Stage
Before performing CPR on an adult, use the following preparation steps:
Step 1: It is important to check the immediate area for something that may put you at risk, such as fire, traffic, or falling masonry. Next, check to see if the individual needs support. Tap on their shoulder and check if they’re all right.
Step 2: Carefully position the person on the back and kneel beside the chest. You should tip the head back slightly, too, by raising the chin. This helps them to open their airways.
Recommended: Nasal Trauma: Causes, Symptoms, Prevention And Management
Open their mouth to search for any food or vomit blockage. Remove some blockage if the blockage is loose. Don’t try to remove it if it isn’t loose, attempting to grab it could force it deeper into the airway.
Step 3: Put your ear next to the person’s mouth and listen for about 10 seconds. If you don’t hear breathing, or you just hear intermittent gasps, you should start the procedure.
If the person is unconscious but still breathing, do not perform CPR. Instead, put them on their sides if they don’t seem to have a spinal cord injury. Keep monitoring their breathing and perform Cardiopulmonary resuscitation if they stop breathing.
CPR Steps
The following steps can be used to perform CPR in adults:
Step 1: Put one of your hands on top of the other and put it together. Drive hard and fast with the heel of your hands and elbows straight to the middle of their chest, just below their nipples. Put at least 2 inches in the chest. Compress their chest at a rate of at least 100 times per minute. Let the chest rise between compressions entirely on its own.
Recommended: What Is Prodromal Labor? All You Need To Know
Step 2: Ensure that their mouth is visible by tilting their head back slightly and raising their chin. Close their nose, put your mouth fully above theirs, and blow into their mouth to make their chest rise.
If their chest does not rise with the first breath, then tilt their heads. The person may be choking if his or her chest does not rise with a second breath.
Step 3: Repeat the sequence of 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths before they begin to breathe on their own or help arrives.
Video On How To Perform CPR
You can quickly watch the video below on how to cook delicious couscous by NEDUFY
Subscribe to NEDUFY’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL for more video updates!
How To Perform CPR For Infants And Children?
The Cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocol for babies and children differs slightly from that for adults.
Preparation Steps
The following preparation steps are used to perform Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children:
Recommended: Convulsions In Children: 5 Tips To Help Prevent It
Step 1: First, check the atmosphere for factors that might put you at risk. Next, search the child to see if they need support. To the girls, touch their shoulders and ask if they’re all right. Flick on the sole of the infant’s foot to see if they respond.
If you’re alone with the child and they don’t respond, take care of them for 2 minutes and then call the emergency hotlines.
If the child responds, call the emergency hotline to report any life-threatening conditions.
Step 2: Carefully put the child or baby on the back and kneel beside the chest. Ensure that their mouth is visible by tilting their head back slightly and raising their chin.
Open your mouth to search for any blockage, such as food or vomit. If it’s already loose, remove it. Don’t touch if it’s not loose, as this can drive it deeper into their airways.
Step 3: Put your ear next to the child’s mouth and listen for no longer than 10 seconds. Start Cardiopulmonary resuscitation If you do not hear breathing, or if you hear only intermittent gasps,
Changes in infant breathing habits are expected, as they typically have recurrent breathing.
Keep monitoring their breathing and perform CPR if they stop breathing.
Recommended: How To Create Secured Bonding With Your Baby
CPR Steps
The following steps should be used to perform CPR in infants and children.
Step 1: Do two emergency breaths if the child or baby is not breathing. Do so with their head bent downwards, and their chin lifted up.
Close the child’s nose and put your mouth completely above theirs. Breathe twice in their mouth.
Place your mouth over your nose for infants and blow for a second.
Phases 2: Use one of the hands of the child and place the heel of the hand at the sternum in the middle of the chest. Press hard and quick about 2 inches deep at least 100 times a minute.
Using two fingers for the babies. Place your fingers in the middle of their chest, between and slightly below their nipples. Perform 30 fast compressions about 1.5 inches deep.
Recommended: Choosing Gymnastics Heel Cups: Top Things To Consider
Step 3: Repeat the life cycle of respiration and chest compression until the child begins to breathe or support.
References:
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation – Wikipedia
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation – Healthline
- What is CPR? – Heart.org
- CPR Step: A Visual Guide – MedicalNewsToday