New CPR rules announced in 'Circulation'
- The motto for these new guidelines is: “Don’t be afraid. Your actions can only help.”
- The AHA still recommends people learn conventional CPR that includes alternating mouth-to-mouth breathing with chest compressions.
By Sarah Madison, News Writing Student
New CPR rules that forego mouth-to-mouth contact were published in March in the American Heart Association’s journal “Circulation”.
The new Hands-Only CPR requires 100 compressions on the chest per minute.
The motto for these new guidelines is: “Don’t be afraid. Your actions can only help.” The simplified procedure may prompt more people to help in an emergency, the journal says.
According to the guidelines, “This Hands-Only CPR is only recommended for adult victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Pediatric victims and victims of drowning, trauma, airway obstruction, acute respiratory diseases, and apnea‑such as that associated with drug overdose‑benefit more from additional interventions in conventional CPR.”
The AHA still recommends people learn conventional CPR that includes alternating mouth-to-mouth breathing with chest compressions.
“While the new guidelines will change how family, friends and strangers react in emergency situations, trained EMS professionals will still administer conventional CPR with both compressions and mouth-to-mouth breathing,” said Leaugeay Barnes, Emergency Medical Sciences director.
Barnes said there will be no changes made to the Emergency Medical Sciences curriculum at OCCC.
The last change made to the CPR guidelines occurred in 2005. This change put more emphasis on chest compressions and changed the rule to 30 compressions for every two breathes instead of 15 compressions.
Since the publication of the 2005 AHA Guidelines, several studies have shown that Hands-Only CPR can be as effective as conventional CPR in the out-of-hospital setting. This scientific advisory amends the 2005 Guidelines on Hands-Only CPR (compression-only CPR) by increasing the circumstances for which Hands-Only CPR is recommended.”
Barnes explained the reasoning behind the change.
“Too much oxygen can be just as harmful as not enough. The compressions help to circulate the oxygen that is already in the lungs and blood which is enough to keep the collapsed person from experiencing any brain or organ damage,” she said.
Even bystanders who have not been trained, the Heart Association urges that they try to help.
“On average, any attempt to provide CPR to a victim is better than no attempt to provide help,” Barnes said.
The AHA came up with the new term Hands-Only CPR with the initiative to develop a message that describes an effective technique that the public will remember and perform to help an adult who suddenly collapses.
For more information regarding the new Hands-Only CPR guidelines, visit http://www.americanheart.org/cpr or http://handsonly.eisenberginc.com.
