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Heart group updates CPR guidelines
YOUNGSTOWN
The guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation have changed. The American Heart Association this week announced a new emphasis on the compressions step of the CPR process.
Michael Kerr, a simulation coordinator with Humility of Mary Health Partners, said the new guidelines are based on a study by the association that says some people are unwilling to perform mouth-to-mouth breathing.
“The study came back and said if we can pump blood or oxygen quicker to the brain, you can circulate blood throughout the body,” Kerr said.
The old acronym, ABC, which stood for “airway, breathing and circulation” has been changed to CAB, which stands for “compressions, airway and breathing.”
The hands-only approach could make bystanders more willing to administer CPR while in the past, fewer than a third of cardiac- arrest victims received CPR from bystanders who may have been reluctant to give rescue breaths without a mouth guard or barrier.
Now bystanders can begin with compressions and move on to rescue breathing if comfortable.
Gina Berila, heart association communications director, said the organization releases updated guidelines every five years. Kerr said the association already will have begun studies that will contribute to the next set of guidelines.
The “look, listen and feel” step, which would have rescuers check a victim for breathing, was removed from the guidelines because performance was time-consuming and inconsistent.
“We used to look at the chest, listen for air and feel it come back in your face,” Kerr said.
“We took three to five seconds to do that, and that was three to five seconds wasted because it’s hard to see with clothes on and hard to hear in a crowd.”
Now the association says first responders and other individuals should begin CPR by first giving hard, fast compressions to the center of the chest, depressing the chest bone about 2 inches 100 times per minute.
Kerr said 100 beats per minute can be achieved by compressing the chest to the beat of lyrics in the song “Staying Alive” by the musical group Bee Gees, specifically in the lyrics “ah, ha, ha, ha.”
These guidelines apply to CPR for adults, children and infants but not newborns, Kerr added.