Imagine you slipped suddenly and were about to hit your head on a sharp stone. Thankfully, just in time, someone grabbed you and stopped you from falling. That’s exactly what CPR—Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation does for your heart. When a person goes into cardiac arrest, their heart stops pumping blood, and the brain and body are deprived of oxygen within minutes.
Timely CPR steps in as a temporary lifeline. By pressing on the chest and giving rescue breaths, you can manually maintain blood and oxygen flow until medical help arrives. It doesn’t restart the heart like in movies; however, it does buy those crucial minutes that can mean the difference between life and death.
Keep reading to get the comprehensive knowledge about CPR.
Read Also: Sudden Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack: What’s the Difference?
What is a CPR?
CPR is an emergency life-saving technique in case of cardiac arrest. This is used when someone’s heart or breathing stops and involves chest compressions and rescue breaths. This is done to keep oxygen flowing to the brain and vital organs until professional help arrives, significantly increasing chances of survival.Read Also: Heart Attack vs Cardiac Arrest: Know the Difference
How Does CPR Help in Cardiac Arrest?
CPR helps you buy the time required for a life-or-death situation. You might be wondering, but how does it actually do this? Read the following bullet to get the general idea:1. Keeps Blood Flowing
Timely CPR helps keep blood flowing by manually pumping the heart with chest compressions. This ensures oxygen supply to vital organs like the brain.2. Keep Supplying Oxygen to the Lungs
It provides oxygen to the lungs via rescue breaths. This helps maintain oxygen levels in the blood.3. Prevent Brain Damage
CPR broadens the time window before permanent brain damage could occur by supplying oxygenated blood.4. Sustain Heart Function
It supports heart function until professional medical help arrives. Defibrillation (an electrical shock) can help restart the heart.5. Increases Survival Chances
Immediate CPR increases survival chances. It can double or triple the likelihood of recovery after cardiac arrest.Read Also: Silent Heart Attack – Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
What is the General CPR Procedure?
Everyone should know about the basic CPR procedure, as this awareness can help save many lives.A. What do I do before starting CPR?
Call 108 or local emergency services and ask someone to get an AED (automated external defibrillator) if available.Next, remember ABC to determine if CPR is needed:
- A - AIRWAY: Lay the individual on their back and gently tilt their head back. Look inside their mouth and throat for any possible blockages that may be causing choking.
- B - BREATHING: Get close to their nose and mouth, and carefully listen and watch for about 10 seconds. Observe if they are breathing or if their chest is moving.
- C - CIRCULATION: Examine for a pulse on the side of the neck under the jaw for a few seconds.
Read Also: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
B. How to do CPR
The following are the simple steps to perform CPR. It can get very tiring for you very quickly. If other people are around, have them switch places with you to keep doing the compressions when you run out of energy.- Place your hands in the center of your chest.
- Push hard and fast about 2 inches deep.
- Keep your elbows straight.
- Use your body weight to do compressions at 100 to 120 per minute.
- If trained, you can give 2 rescue breaths (mouth-to-mouth respiration) after every 30 compressions by tilting the head, pinching the nose, and blowing into the mouth.
- Continue giving compressions and rescue breaths until the person wakes up or help arrives.
What are the types of CPR?
There are 4 types of CPR:1. Hands-Only CPR
Chest compressions only. It is done fast (100 to 120 chest compressions per minute, 30 at a time) and hard without rescue breaths.2. Conventional CPR
Combines chest compressions with rescue breaths or mouth-to-mouth respiration in a 30:2 ratio. In simple terms, giving 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths in a repeating cycle.3. Child CPR
This is the modified compression with one hand and breaths for children over 1 year old.4. Infant CPR
Infant CPR uses 2 fingers for compressions and gentle breaths for babies under 1 year.Read Also: Reasons Behind Increase in Heart Attacks Among Young Adults
The American Red Cross CPR Guidelines
They recommend 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute, 30 at a time.Here are the 5 points to remember:
- Hand position: Two hands centered on the chest.
- Body position: Shoulders directly over hands and elbows locked.
- Compression depth: The depth should be at least 2 inches.
- Rate of compressions: 100 to 120 per minute.
- Allow the chest to come back to its normal position following each compression.
Conclusion
CPR is a life-saving skill everyone should know, as your awareness could turn into a lifeline for a stranger in need. By acting quickly and timely, CPR helps keep blood and oxygen flowing to vital organs. This could help buy crucial time until medical help arrives. Learning CPR prepares you to save lives and make a real difference during emergencies.FAQs
Q1: What is the chest compression depth in CPR?A: The chest compression depth for adults during CPR should be about 2 to 2.4 inches (5-6 cm). This is to ensure effective blood and oxygen flow to vital organs.
Q2: How many compressions per minute does CPR need?
A: CPR should be performed at a rate of 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute for the best outcome.
Q3: How does CPR help in cardiac arrest?
A: CPR helps keep blood and oxygen flowing to the brain and vital organs. This increases survival chances during cardiac arrest.
Q4: What is the perfect CPR position?
A: The perfect CPR position is laying the individual flat on their back on a firm surface. This is to allow strong, effective chest compressions (100 to 120 per minute).
