If you've ever watched a hospital show on TV, you've probably seen cardiopulmonary resuscitation It's called CPR for short and it saves lives. Let's find out how it works.
What Is CPR?
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly known as CPR is an emergency procedure that combines chest compression often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations.People who handle emergencies — such as police officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, and nurses — are all trained to do CPR. Many other teens and adults — like lifeguards, teachers, childcare workers, and maybe even your mom or dad — know how to do CPR, too.
The person giving CPR — called a rescuer — follows 3 main steps, which are known as C-A-B:
- do chest compressions
- check the airway
- do rescue breathing
Chest Compressions
Someone giving CPR (the rescuer) will use both hands, one placed over the other, to press on the person's chest many times in a row to move blood out of the heart that has stopped beating.These are called chest compressions and they help move oxygen-carrying blood to the body's vital organs — especially the all-important brain. A person who goes too long without oxygen reaching the brain will die.
In between each compression, the hands are lifted off the chest to let the chest go back to where it was. This allows blood to flow back toward the heart. In this way, the rescuer can keep the person alive by continuing to supply blood and oxygen to the brain and the rest of the body, until emergency help — like the paramedics — arrives to take the person to a hospital.
Checking the Airways
After 30 compressions have been completed, the rescuer checks the airway to see if the person is breathing.Rescue Breathing
If the person is not breathing, TWO rescue breaths are given. This is called artificial respiration , mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing, or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.To do this, a rescuer puts his or her mouth over the other person's open mouth and blows, forcing air into the lungs. (Ideally, the rescuer will use a special mask so that their mouths don't actually have to touch.) Rescue breathing helps to move oxygen, which everyone needs to live, down into the lungs of the person who isn't breathing. Chest compressions should start again right after the two breaths are given.
Instead of doing mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing, professional rescuers — such as paramedics — will provide artificial breathing for someone by using a mask with a special hand pump connected to an oxygen tank. Doctors in the emergency department will put a tube into the person's windpipe to pump oxygen directly through the tube and into the lungs.