Cardiopulmonary resuscitation has become essentially important especially for people who have family members suffering from cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. Knowing how to perform CPR is advantageous for people whose member of the family suffers from cardiovascular diseases because most heart attacks occur at home. CPR is crucial in providing artificial circulation and breathing when emergency cases such as heart attack and cardiac arrests transpire. Through CPR, oxygenated bloods keeps flowing through the heart. Giving CPR earlier offers higher chance of successful resuscitation. By performing a cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the brain is supplied with adequate amount of oxygen that is essential in its normal functioning. Without CPR, a person can experience significant and permanent life changing damages in just four minutes.
In conducting CPR, there are only three basic steps. The three basic steps are known as ABC which stand for airway, breathing and circulation consecutively. Once the victim has become unresponsive, his airway must be opened immediately. Then, the victim’s breathing must be checked. As a bystander, you should listen, look and feel the victim’s breathing. If he’s not breathing, providing two breaths will be of great help. Examining his pulse is also a great way to check his circulation. If pulse is absent, giving 30 chest compressions continuously and two breaths can revive the victim’s circulation.
Chest compression must initially be administered prior to the clearing of airways and restoration of breath because chest compression facilitates in reviving the normal circulation of oxygenated blood in the heart and brain. Chest compression is be done by placing the heel of a hand to the center of the chest while the other hand must be placed above the other hand. The elbows must be kept locked while the shoulders are positioned directly above the hands. After obtaining the standard position, you should gently press the chest by 5 inches or 2 inches. You must push the chest harder in a fast speed with two chest compression per second as the ideal rate. The compression must be done for thirty times. Fifty chest compressions in 30 seconds is an ideal rate.
After performing chest compression, the next step in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation is clearing the airways. This can be done by putting your hand in the forehead of the victim while gently tilting his head upward. This is one of the easiest ways to open the airways of the victim. Upon lifting the chin forward, you should try to feel the victim’s breathing in your cheek and ears.
Breathing must carefully be checked after clearing the airways. If the victim does not breathe properly, you should give him a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for 1 second. When the chest rise, let it fall and give second breathing. However, if the chest did not rise after the first breathing, redo the tilting of the head and give breath again to the victim.
The steps in providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation are simple yet it can save a life in case of heart attack and respiratory and cardiac arrests. However, performing CPR requires accurateness and knowledge because it can create negative impact to the victim if administered improperly. Nowadays, attending a CPR training is one of the best ways to learn CPR accurately and precisely in just a short period of time. Lack of knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation can result to a permanent brain damage in just a few seconds and within 10 seconds, it can trigger the death of the victim.
