American Heart Association's New CPR Guidelines (PICTURES, VIDEO)
(CBS/AP) Are you ready to save a life? Maybe not, unless you're familiar with the new CPR guidelines issued today by the American Heart Association.
The guidelines switch up
the steps, encouraging rescuers to start with hard fast chest
presses before giving mouth-to-mouth.
The change puts "the simplest step first" for traditional CPR, said Dr. Michael Sayre, co-author of the guidelines.
In recent years, CPR guidance has been revised to put more emphasis on chest pushes for sudden cardiac arrest. In 2008, the heart group said untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do rescue breaths could do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.Now, the group says everyone from professionals to bystanders who
use standard CPR should begin with chest compressions instead of opening
the victim's airway and breathing into their mouth first.
Under the revised guidelines, rescuers using traditional CPR (or cardiopulmonary resuscitation) should start chest compressions immediately - 30 chest presses, then two breaths. The change applies to adults and children, but not newborns.
Recent researchhas shown that, in some cases, chest compressions alone are just as effective as alternating between compressions and mouth-to-mouth.
Alternating is still best for very small children and victims of near-drowning and drug overdose, experts say, instances where breathing problems probably led to cardiac arrest.
Read more about the new guidelines and watch a video demonstrating CPR.
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