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New Easier Guidelines For CPR
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You may want to review your own CPR instructions in line with new thinking!!!
Check with your country expert for validity of this methodology. i.e. in Europe
this would be the European Resuscitation Council.
"Push hard, push fast" next time you give CPR to someone having cardiac
arrest, say new, simpler guidelines in a radical departure from past advice.
Putting the emphasis on chest compressions instead of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,
the American Heart Association now urges people to give 30 compressions -- instead
of 15 -- for every two rescue breaths. "Basically, the more times someone
pushes on the chest, the better off the patient is," said an Ohio State
University emergency medicine professor who helped develop the guidelines announced
Monday. "We have made things simpler," he said. "Push hard on
the person's chest and push fast." The streamlined guidelines should make
it easier for people to learn CPR.
Earlier rules were different for adults and for children and called on untrained
rescuers to stop pushing the chest periodically to check for signs of circulation.
Now, the advice is the same for all ages -- 30 compressions -- and you don't
have to stop to check for improvement. What's important is to keep the blood
flowing. Studies have shown that blood circulation increases with each chest
compression and it must be built back up after an interruption. "When you're
doing 30 of those compressions, then you're giving more circulation throughout
the body and the brain," said a spokswoman of Texas CPR Training. She said
the new advice makes sense. Sudden cardiac arrest -- when the heart suddenly
stops beating -- can occur after a heart attack or as a result of electrocution
or near-drowning. It's most often caused by an abnormal heart rhythm. The person
experiencing it collapses, is unresponsive to gentle shaking and stops normal
breathing. More than 300,000 Americans die from it each year. About 75 percent
to 80 percent of all cardiac arrests outside a hospital happen at home, and
effective CPR can double a victim's chance of survival. "The most common
reason many people die from cardiac arrest is no one nearby knows CPR,"
said the spokswoman of Texas CPR Training.
"For the bystander that witnesses a collapse, the main danger is inaction."
More than 9 out of 10 cardiac arrest victims die before they get to the hospital,
the heart association estimates. "The bottom line is we think more people
need to learn CPR," said a clinical nurse specialist at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center who also worked on the guidelines. "We have more and more
evidence that good CPR works. We're doing our best to increase the number of
bystanders that learn CPR." Currently, about 9 million Americans a year
are trained in CPR, the heart association says, but it has a goal of more than
doubling that number in the next five years to 20 million.
The new guidelines call for 911 operators to be trained to provide easy-to-follow
CPR instructions by phone. The heart association also offers new guidance to
professionals, calling for cooling down cardiac arrest patients to about 90
degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 24 hours. Two significant studies have shown that
practice can improve survival and brain function for those who are comatose
after initial resuscitation. There are a variety of methods -- both internal
and external -- for cooling a person down, but the guidelines don't recommend
a specific approach. The new guidelines also advise just one shock from a defibrillator
before beginning chest compressions instead of giving up to three shocks first.
Studies show that the first shock works more than 85 percent of the time. Defibrillators
have been popping up in public places like airports and businesses, but the
heart association says that more public places need to install the devices.
Survival rates have been as high as 49 percent to 74 percent for lay rescuer
programs when defibrillators are placed in casinos, airports or used by police.
The new guidelines provide an opportunity for those who have taken CPR in the
past to take a refresher course, said professor of surgery and medicine at the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "I think it's a good idea
for people to take CPR lessons at least every couple of years," said the
professor, also involved in creating the guidelines. He led a study presented
at the American Heart Association meeting earlier this month that showed CPR
can be effectively taught in little more than 20 minutes. The study found that
just five minutes of training on defibrillator use and 20 minutes of instruction
in CPR was as effective as the standard four-hour course.
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