New CPR Guidelines Include Compression-Only Instructions for Heart Attack
If you see someone suffer a heart attack and go unconscious, immediately dial 9-1-1 and begin pushing on his or her chest as hard and as often as you can -- don't stop until someone else can take over, or until paramedics arrive. Those are the latest instructions from the American Heart Association (AHA), which is now confident that hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be done in an emergency, even by people who have no CPR training. Throat sweeping and mouth-to-mouth emergency breathing are still recommended, but not for bystanders -- those components are only encouraged for trained medical personnel. The organization's new position appears in the March 29 issue of the medical journal Circulation.
Experts suggest that approximately 250,000 Americans suffer cardiac arrest each year, and that getting more people to perform CPR could save thousands of lives a year. The finer details of traditional CPR -- how often and how hard to push -- can now be ignored by everyone but trained emergency response personnel. Evidence suggests that most bystanders who perform CPR in an emergency have been inclined to press too gently and too infrequently, and that simplifying the procedure will encourage more appropriate emergency response behavior. CPR, when done by any standard, can double or potentially triple heart attack survival rates, according to medical experts.
The new recommendation is an update to the organization's 2005 guidelines, which said bystanders should use compression-only CPR if they were unwilling or unable to provide breaths. Three studies published in 2007 showed no negative impact on survival when mouth-to-mouth ventilation was eliminated, the association statement said.
The group warns that hands-only CPR should not be used on infants or children, or on those adults whose cardiac arrest is from respiratory causes such as drug overdose or near-drowning.
About 75 percent of all sudden cardiac arrests happen at home, the heart association estimates, and the new guideline applies in such cases: 911 first, hands-only CPR second.
Previously on the DC Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog, we have posted articles related to:
- Evidence that the survival rate for in-hospital heart attacks is lower on evenings and weekends
- The signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke
- The Top-10 threats to men's health
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