Emergency resuscitation and CPR can help keep someone alive until paramedics arrive. So, if you want to learn how to keep a person’s blood flowing until health professionals arrive on the scene, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve made a detailed guide on how to give CPR and emergency resuscitation, which will help you keep a person alive if their heart stops beating.
Here’s what you need to know.
Performing CPR
You should only perform CPR after you’ve received the necessary training. Otherwise, you might do more harm than good. The first rule of performing CPR is to do it only when a person isn’t breathing, gasping in quick succession, or is unresponsive to taps on their body and to any questions. However, for infants and children, use CPR when they’re not responding or breathing normally.
After you’ve established that the person needs CPR, check if the area is safe for you to perform CPR. You don’t want to do it in a burning building or a building about to collapse. So, carry the person to safety and then attempt CPR.
Call Emergency Services
Once you and the person is safe, tap their shoulder and ask them if they’re okay. If they don’t respond, call 911 or ask someone else to call emergency services. You can also request a bystander to search for an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) machine. They can be found in different public buildings and offices.
Open The Airways
Now, lay the person on their back and find a way to open their airway. Kneel next to their chest and tilt their head backward slightly by lifting their chin. You must open their mouth and check for any obstruction like vomit or food. If you find any obstruction, try to remove it if it’s loose. If it’s not tight lodged in the throat, grasping it may push it further down the food pipe. So, be careful when removing obstructions.
Check For Breathing
Check if the person is breathing. Place your ear next to the person’s mouth and listen for 10-12 seconds. Start CPR immediately if you don’t hear breathing and hear only gasping sounds.
If someone is unconscious and still breathing, don’t perform CPR. Instead, place them in a recovery position if they don’t have a spinal injury. Keep monitoring their breathing and immediately perform emergency resuscitation if they stop breathing.
Step-By-Step Guide To CPR
If the patient has no pulse, you must perform CPR. Here’s how:
Chest Compressions
You must perform thirty chest compressions and two rescue breaths. Place one of your hands on top of the other and clasp them. Now, straighten your elbows, align your wrists, and use the heel of your hand to push hard and fast in the center of the chest, slightly above the nipples. Push at least two inches deep into the chest cavity. Do a hundred compressions in under a minute and let the chest rise fully between each compression. The same procedure applies to a child, but don’t push more than 1.5 inches if doing CPR on an infant.
Emergency Resuscitation
You must ensure that the airway is open. Tilt the person’s head backward, lift their chin, and pinch their nose. Now, place your mouth directly over theirs and blow into it to inflate their chest. If the chest does not rise with the first breath, adjust the head and tilt it backward again. If the chest still doesn’t rise with the second breath, the person might be choking. Try to clear any obstructions before resuming compressions and breathing.
Repeat Compressions
Keep repeating the cycle of thirty compressions and two rescue breaths until the person starts breathing or help arrives. If someone manages to bring an AED machine first, carry on with CPR until the machine is set up and ready for use.
The most common cardiac arrest in adults is ventricular fibrillation VF, in which we need to rapidly convert the heart rhythm to perfusing rhythm. And pulseless ventricular tachycardia is treated the same way we treat VF.
You’ll need to place the defibrillating pads between the second intercostal space along the right sternal border and the fifth or sixth intercostal space at the apex of the heart (mid-auxiliary line) or between the clavicles. Before you place them on the body, apply the conducting paste or gel to the pads and shock the person between 150 to 200 joules.
If there is no cardiac rhythm, you may charge at a higher power to 360 joules and shock again. Keep up with chest compressions in between until they begin to breathe or help arrives on the scene.
When To Use CPR
You must remember the following before performing CPR:
- Use CPR when the child or adult is not responding to you.
- If a child or an infant is not breathing normally, perform CPR.
- If an adult doesn’t have a pulse and is not breathing, perform CPR.
When someone is not breathing, CPR can help oxygen-rich blood reach the brain and keep it alive because, without oxygen, the person can sustain brain damage and die within eight minutes.
So, if a person or child is suspected of sudden infant death syndrome, electrocution, smoke inhalation, alcohol or drug overuse, poisoning, suffocation, near-drowning, a road traffic accident, choking, and heart attack, or cardiac arrest, perform CPR to increase their chances of survival.
Get A CPR First Aid Certification And Training
CPR is a life-saving procedure that can give someone a chance at survival. So, if you want to learn how to give CPR, CPR, ACLS & PALS Training Institute offers basic life support certification online, pals certification online, and acls certification online.
Visit their website today to learn more about their CPR and first aid training. You can also contact them to inquire about their class schedule and register for their upcoming class.
About The Author
Charles, M. has been working as a kindergarten teacher in Boston for the past six years. He also writes for acclaimed websites and magazines to educate his readers about health hazards and emergencies in public spaces and how to handle them effectively.
