Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is a way to save the life of someone whose heart has stopped pumping blood, which is called cardiac arrest. CPR tries to get their heart to start pumping again. It’s a simple method that almost anyone can learn. Compressing the chest is the most important part of CPR because it keeps blood flowing to essential organs until the heartbeat returns to normal. The person with cardiac arrest gets more air when they take deep breaths of oxygen.
When is CPR performed?
Anyone of any age needs to know CPR if:
- Collapses suddenly
- No pulse
- Failing to respond
- No breathing
When someone has a heart attack outside of a hospital, more than half of them don’t get help right away. If you get CPR right away after experiencing signs of cardiac arrest, your chance of living can double or even triple.
Why is performing CPR important?
CPR can save lives. In an emergency, like a heart attack or coming close to drowning, CPR can keep the blood moving through the body, giving the brain and other organs the oxygen they need to stay alive.
Even if you don’t know how to do CPR or are afraid to try, it’s always better to try than to do nothing. Most of the time, there is still enough oxygen in the blood to support the brain and organs for a short time, but it isn’t moving around unless CPR is done. Without CPR, it only takes a few minutes for a lack of air to cause brain damage.
What are the tips to follow before performing CPR?
- Make sure you and the victim are far away from dangers like traffic, fire, or anything else.
- Ask the person out loud if they are all right to see if they will answer.
- Immediately call for an ambulance so people can receive cardiac arrest treatments at the hospital after receiving first aid
- Turn the person over on their back and listen for breathing sounds or watch their chest to see if it rises and falls.
- Check the person’s neck for a pulse.
What procedure needs to be followed to perform CPR?
- If the person isn’t breathing, put one hand over the other and place them in the middle of their chest, right under their nipples.
- Using your whole body weight, push down hard in the middle of the person’s chest with your hands.
- Use your hand’s heel or the area right before your wrist. Don’t bend your arms.
- Keep pushing down 2 inches on the person’s chest 100 to 120 times per minute.
- This is called “compressions.” Make sure you give their chest a chance to come back up all the way between compressions.
- People who have been trained in CPR can stop compressions every 30 compressions to give the person two mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths. This takes about 20 seconds.
- Keep giving rescue breaths and chest compressions in a circle until the person comes back to life or more help arrives.
- To ensure a safe treatment and recovery contact for heart attack treatment in Coimbatore.
How do you perform CPR on newborns and little children?
Children and babies aren’t likely to have heart attacks, but there are other situations in which CPR could save the life of a young kid. The basic CPR procedure steps are the same, but a child’s small body needs to be taken into account.
For a small kid, CPR is done the same way as for an adult, but chest compressions are done with one hand instead of two.
For a baby, put your thumbs next to each other in the middle of the baby’s chest. Wrap your other fingers around the baby’s back to help hold it up. Do 30 quick compressions, letting the chest return to its normal position between each one.
What happens after performing CPR?
When first rescuers arrive, they will take the person who is getting CPR to the hospital as soon as possible. If the person lives, doctors will check to see if the lack of air hurts any of their organs. They will also figure out what caused the heart arrest and treat the person as needed. People who survive cardiac arrest often stay in a coma, but about half of them come out of it.
Can CPR lead to rib damage?
CPR protocol when performed correctly does not cause any damage to the ribs or chest. But when it is performed aggressively in old people, there can be damage to the chest and ribs. It is important to know the right way to perform CPR to avoid any damage.
When you should not perform CPR on a person?
If a person is having a heart attack but is awake and their heartbeat is regular, CPR is not needed. In this situation, you might hurt the heart more by doing something than if you did nothing and waited for an ambulance.
Also, stop CPR right away if the person shows signs of life, like open eyes and steady breathing, while you are giving CPR. Let the person get better, but be ready in case the person’s heart stops again. Reach out to an emergency care in Coimbatore if you or someone is in need of emergency care.
