CPR Guidelines

The American Heart Association has released the 2010 CPR guidelines and they contain some major changes to the CPR steps. Even if you already hold your CPR certification you may want to consider recertification based on these changes. What is different now?

The first major change introduced affects the BLS (basic life support) sequence. If you are a trained rescuer i.e. you already hold a CPR certification you need to change from ABC to CAB when it comes to CPR steps. In your CPR class you will have been told that you always check airway and then deliver rescue breaths before starting chest compressions. These recommendations have changed.

Recent studies show that CPR had to be made easier so that more ordinary people would attend classes, obtain their certification and be ready and willing to perform CPR if required. Having listened to the general public and looked at medical evidence, the AHA has realized that making people perform mouth to mouth may be costing lives. People who have had a cardiac arrest usually die from oxygen starvation. If you start chest compressions you can get the heart beating and blood flowing around the system very quickly. If you use an AED your results i.e whether the casualty lives or dies should be even better.

The new guidelines suggest that if you are alone you should call 911 and then take out the AED, an electronic device that will help you to return the heart to its normal rhythm. If the AED isn't available start manual chest compressions. Anyone can push hard and fast on the center of the chest. Push down at least two inches and don't forget to allow a little bit of time for the chest to return to its original position. Keep chest compressions going until help or an AED arrives. The compression rate should be 100 per minute. If it helps, the song "staying alive" has the correct beat that you should follow when administering CPR. The victim has a higher chance of survival if you perform more compressions.

Some people are thinking that the new guidelines suggest that mouth to mouth is no longer required. This is not the case. What the AHA has said is that where someone is not trained in CPR then they should proceed with chest compression only CPR as this is better than nothing. It is much easier for the EMS dispatcher to talk someone into trying chest compressions than to try to teach someone how to do rescue breaths. If you are a trained rescuer the recommendations to perform rescue breaths still stands but you should start with chest compressions first.