Cpr saves lives!

Years ago, not too long after nursing school, I was in the mall and a gentleman in front of me suddenly collapsed on the escalator. I knew what to do, but I had never done CPR before in real life. We had practiced numerous times in school and even took a course to be sure that we all knew basic life support. CPR, also referred to as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is a lifesaving technique useful in many emergencies, including heart attack. I was successful in saving the man’s life; continuous CPR until help arrived. Back in those days, we did the chest compressions along with the breathing for the patient, but that has all been updated. The current guidelines for CPR changed in 2010; before, CPR was instructed to be done as “ABC”s — airway, breaths, and then circulation. But with the changes to the American Heart Association CPR guidelines, circulation — meaning chest compressions — are now done first before opening the airway. The science behind the changes is simple. In an adult who has been breathing normally, for several minutes even after cardiac arrest, there is enough oxygen in the bloodstream to maintain the heart and brain, as long as compressions circulate that oxygen. In this scenario, pausing to provide oxygen through rescue breaths is not only unnecessary, but harmful because it requires the rescuer to stop pressing on the chest for at least several seconds. It should be noted that about 92 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching ...
Source: Nursing Comments - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases 911 airway breathing cardiopulmonary resuscitation chest compressions circulation CPR heart HEART ATTACK myocardial infarction Source Type: blogs