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Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is used when a person's heart has stopped
beating — cardiac arrest — or when they have stopped breathing. It keeps
blood and oxygen moving until emergency medical help arrives. Without
treatment, permanent brain damage happens quickly. Every second matters.
Reading about CPR is not the same as hands-on training. An accredited
course is how you are actually prepared. What follows is an overview.
Check first, and know what you are checking for
Tap their shoulder and shout, "Are you okay?" Look to see whether they are
breathing normally.
Gasping or gurgling is not normal breathing. This is the detail that stops
bystanders acting: a person in cardiac arrest often makes noises that sound
like breathing, and waiting to be sure costs the minutes that matter.
If they do not respond and are not breathing normally, start straight away.
The steps
- Call 911. If someone else is nearby, send them to call while you start
CPR. - Send someone for an AED. An automated external defibrillator shocks the
heart back into a normal rhythm and gives **step-by-step voice
instructions**. They are in many public places, and are especially useful
in sudden cardiac arrest caused by an electrical problem in the heart. - Position the person on their back. **Start right away — do not wait to
move them to a better surface.** - Chest compressions. Heel of one hand on the centre of the chest, other
hand on top. Shoulders above your hands, elbows locked. Push straight down,
hard and fast, about 2 inches deep, at 100 to 120 pushes a minute.
Let the chest fully rise back up between each push. - Keep pushing until help arrives or the person starts breathing
normally. - Use the AED as soon as it arrives. Turn it on and follow the voice
instructions; it will say when to stop compressions and when to shock, and
you continue CPR straight afterwards.
Hands-only, and who it is for
| Teen or adult | If you have had no CPR training, hands-only CPR — compressions, no breaths — keeps blood circulating and is the right thing to do |
| Child | Hands-only CPR alone is not recommended. Children need both compressions and breaths, and compressions about one-third the depth of the chest |
| AED pads | Use child pads if the AED has them; adult pads may be used if not |
If you have had CPR training, give breaths with the compressions: after
every 30 compressions, tilt the head and lift the chin to open the airway,
pinch the nose shut, and give 2 breaths of about 1 second each, watching
for the chest to rise.
Afterwards
Take an accredited course, and refresh your training every two years.
Classes are offered by many community organisations, hospitals, the American
Heart Association and the American Red Cross.
Source: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from medlineplus.gov
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