Cardiac Compressions Without Breathing Recommended
San Francisco (eCanadaNow) - For many years the standard of care in emergency CPR has been chest compressions and rescue breathing.
But in a radical departure, the American Heart Association is recommending something else.
In a set of guidelines published in the current issue of Circulation, the American Heart association is recommending the use of hands only CPR Techniques. It is thought that more people would participate, and more people would live, by teaching people how to perform rapid chest compressions only, without rescue breathing.
Many people hesitate to assist in giving CPR. Sometimes it is thought that people are loath to help because they are afraid of catching a communicable disease by mouth-to-mouth contact. At other times, it appears that people hesitate because they do not think they can perform CPR properly.
Whatever the reason, the new study released by the American heart association states that using chest compressions could save lives, even when given without rescue breaths. To be effective, the compressions need to come swiftly, and occur at the rate of about 100 per minute. This pumps blood manually by compressing the heart between the sternum and the backbone.
Even untrained people can potentially save lives. “Just remember to push fast, and push hard,” said Mary Fran Hazinski. Ms. Hazinski is a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a American Heart Association Spokewoman.
