Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR

[fgoodwin]

Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR

 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HANDS_ONLY_CPR?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://tinyurl.com/2s8olc

 

Mar 31, 5:12 PM EDT

By STEPHANIE NANO

Associated Press Writer

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.

 

"You only have to do two things. Call 911 and push hard and fast on the middle of the person's chest," said Dr. Michael Sayre, an emergency medicine professor at Ohio State University who headed the committee that made the recommendation.

 

Hands-only CPR calls for uninterrupted chest presses - 100 a minute - until paramedics take over or an automated external defibrillator is available to restore a normal heart rhythm.

 

A child who collapses is more likely to primarily have breathing problems - and in that case, mouth-to-mouth breathing should be used. That also applies to adults who suffer lack of oxygen from a near-drowning, drug overdose, or carbon monoxide poisoning. In these cases, people need mouth-to-mouth to get air into their lungs and bloodstream.

 

--

On the Net:

 

Heart Association: http://www.americantheart.org/handsonlycpr

Sarver Heart Center: http://www.heart.arizona.edu/

 

[excerpted]

[frank10]

Down under too...

 

http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23452499-421,00.html?from=public_rss

[Oak Tree]

Does this mean we can drop the mouth shield from the list of items for the "assemble your own first aid kit"? That's a welcome change. I hated when people would ask me how to track those down.

[MarkS]

Either get retrained or do it the way you were trained. Don't go changing the way you perform First Aid based on an AP story.

[hops_scout]

I'm not sure that the new CPR really applies to Scout leaders..

 

We're looking at precious moments when a person collapses with cardiac arrest. If we're a day's hike from a road that means we're even further away from Paramedics. The vital organs can't survive that long on that little of oxygen.

 

I was quite surprised when I was told of this change by one of the athletic training professors here at school. He told us that he was "going to tell us the change and we were going to forget it right away" because it only applies to the Lay Responder CPR. I just got certified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer and it included rescue breathing.

 

So again, I'm thinking that yes we need to continue to carry the CPR masks as part of our kits and continue doing the rescue breathing if trained to do so.

[acco40]

I was recertified last spring and yes, we were taught that the chest compressions were the most vital part.

 

Rescue breathing and giving chest compressions is exhausting work. Also, studies have shown (according to our instructor) that those given chest compressions alone were just as likelyto survive as those given both rescue breathing and chest compressions.

 

Everyone knows that to live, oxygen needs to get to the cells in your body. Breathing alone does not do this. Circulating blood alone does not do this. However, chest compressions will help to circulate blood and will also provide rudimentary air circulation in the lungs (assuming no blocked pathways).

[Gold Winger]

A Red Cross trainer told me that this was coming about five years ago. She said that one of the reasons that they were looking at this change was because of public concerns over nasty stuf from mouth to mouth.

 

I'd guess that we'll still need our rescue breathing in case someone drowns and needs a kickstart.

 

 

[Trevorum]

I'm taking Wilderness First Aid this week end and I'm curious as to what the trainers will tell us on this issue!

[LongHaul]

I also heard of this about 5 years ago. The person I was talking to is an MD and workes in the emergency room. What he said was the "new thinking" was that most people don't really know how to do mouth to mouth anyway, they can't find the pulse, and should concentrate on the only thing they could probably do right which is to push on the chest. He also said that "they" (meaning some research group not his staff or hospital) did a servey and asked people what would be a reason that they would not do CPR on a person that colapses. The overwhelming answer was the mouth to mouth. My friend also said that the higher persentage of success with patience that did not receive mouth to mouth was due to the larger numbers of those type of cases.

I'd like to see some actual numbers before I change what I would do.

LongHaul

[Trevorum]

Yeah, at my last CPR recert I heard that this was probably on the way. Research was already showing that breathing was not as helpful as the compressions, but the civilian protocol wasn't ready to switch yet. I also heard this news on NPR this afternoon.

[hops_scout]

I read somewhere that it takes an average of 16 seconds to switch from doing compressions to giving rescue breaths! That's a long time!

 

But I guess I really don't have to worry about it too much-- I don't expect to see CPR for Professional Rescuer to make that switch in the near future..

[Gold Winger]

"they can't find the pulse, and should concentrate on the only thing they could probably do right which is to push on the chest."

 

That's actually frightening. You fall over, bonk your head and the idiot who stops to help doesn't know how to find a pulse so starts "whumping" away at your chest, breaking your ribs and damn near killing you.

[Gold Winger]

16 seconds? That seems a bit long to me.

[GernBlansten]

I've been on and off CPR certified for over 30 years. Every time I get renewed, somethings changed. I remember when we had to break the sternum with a few quick blows before pumping. Now you got to wear a face condom. Never liked the suck face part anyways. Although my last CPR dummy had a striking resemblance to Mrs. Brad Pitt. I called her Resusci Angelina.

 

I sometimes really wonder how many lives are really saved by it anyways. I've never seen stats on it, I'm sure they exist somewhere on the internets. Unless the victim is fairly young and a drowning or electric shock victim , I doubt it does much more than keep the organs fresher for harvesting. Old men keeling over with massive coronaries, their hearts have stopped for a reason and a little massaging ain't gonna unplug 50 years of cholesterol. Gives you something to do to pass time while the EMTs arrive with an AED I guess.

[ASM416]

Hello,

 

I am an emergency medical dispatcher and they did away with the breathing in CPR for pre-arrival instructions more than a year ago. It was for many of the reasons already stated. It also was less complicated to explain over the phone to an untrained person.

 

There are some exceptions (in EMD anyway). Situations were there was an underlying respiratory problem still get breathing (if the caller will comply, if not just compressions are better than nothing). These are situations like lighting strikes and pediatric calls.

 

MarkS is absolutely right. Don't change what you do based on an AP story or any other unofficial word. The old version still works and you should use it until trained otherwise.