Scribd
Upload
32 views2 pages

The Shifting Science of CPR

The American Heart Association issued new guidelines for CPR that emphasize chest compressions over mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The guidelines recommend a "CAB" approach of chest compressions, airway, breathing to make CPR easier for bystanders. Studies found that compression-only CPR performed by laypeople had similar survival rates as traditional CPR and was more likely to be attempted by bystanders. The guidelines stress the importance of high-quality chest compressions at a rate of 100 per minute and a depth of at least two inches.

Uploaded by

garatoh099
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
32 views2 pages

The Shifting Science of CPR

The American Heart Association issued new guidelines for CPR that emphasize chest compressions over mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The guidelines recommend a "CAB" approach of chest compressions, airway, breathing to make CPR easier for bystanders. Studies found that compression-only CPR performed by laypeople had similar survival rates as traditional CPR and was more likely to be attempted by bystanders. The guidelines stress the importance of high-quality chest compressions at a rate of 100 per minute and a depth of at least two inches.

Uploaded by

garatoh099
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The Shifting Science of CPR

by Katie Maloney
October 18, 2010

New guidelines stress chest compressions, not mouth-to-mouth


resuscitation.

The American Heart Association today issued new guidelines on how to perform CPR.
The recommendations say rescuers should focus first and foremost on chest
compressions, not breathing into the victim’s mouth—what most call mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation—and they come after the efficacy of the previous standard was called into
question.

A training aide used under previous guidelines was “ABC,” or “airway, breathing, chest
compression": check the airway for lodged objects, perform mouth-to-mouth, then start
on chest compressions. The new 2010 directions are “CAB,” or “chest compressions,
airway, breathing”—and the AHA notes that the mouth-to-mouth can be skipped by
those leery of "breathing for a stranger" or without formal training. 

“We certainly recognize the challenge of getting bystanders to act,” says Michael Sayre,
coauthor of the new AHA guidelines and associate professor of emergency medicine at
Ohio State University. Making CPR easier for nonprofessionals to practice has been a
leading goal of the AHA, he says, noting that chest compressions need to be
administered even before 911 is called. (Though the AHA recommends that all 911 call
centers provide over-the-phone, compression-only CPR instructions, many don’t, Sayre
says, and even when they do, instructions may take too long and come too late.)

The previous set of guidelines from the AHA did not include separate instructions for
trained versus untrained rescuers, and Sayre says there is a perception among
untrained individuals that they might hurt someone and shouldn’t try to help. In
addition to these new recommendations, he cites an AHA public-awareness campaign
called Hands-Only CPR, which has an instructional Web site encouraging people not to
be afraid to help. “The message definitely is that, even if you’ve never been trained,
you can help save a life by calling 911 and initiating hands-only CPR,” he said, instead
of traditional chest compressions and assisted breathing. 

Santos, Grace Dianne L.


BSN4-C
Group 15
This change in guidelines supports the findings of two studies published this summer
in The New England Journal of Medicine , which focused on this new technique of
compression-only CPR. Traditional CPR—or cardiopulmonary resuscitation—has the
performer alternate between chest compressions and breathing into the mouth of the
victim. 

One study, out of Sweden, focused on whether the use of compression-only CPR,


compared with chest compressions and assisted breathing, would have an impact on
the number of patients who survived at least 30 days after their medical incident. The
results showed that there was no significant difference in the survival rate between
techniques.

Meanwhile, the second study, out of the University of Washington, suggested, as the


new AHA guidelines do, that when CPR is being administered by a “layperson”—not a
doctor—911 operators should emphasize compression-only CPR.

Additionally, the AP reports that people are more likely to attempt lifesaving measures if
an emergency operator is giving them explicit and firm directions, and that 80 percent
of people will attempt lifesaving actions when instructed to use compression-only CPR,
compared with 70 percent who would willingly begin both compressions and assisted
breathing for the victim.

The new guidelines also emphasize that rescuers need to focus on delivering at least
100 chest compressions per minute, and should press down the victim’s chest by at
least two inches.

Santos, Grace Dianne L.


BSN4-C
Group 15

You might also like