|
|
EXPERT: HANDS ONLY CPR WORKS
Monday, June 27th, 2011 -- 11:31 am
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., and immediate, effective CPR can more than double a victim's chance of survival. New guidelines say hands-only CPR is just as effective as CPR with breaths in treating adult cardiac victims.
If you see someone collapse, you could save that person's life with hands-only CPR. But according to the American Heart Association (AHA), less than a third of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest victims receive any bystander CPR at all.
Dr. Stuart Berger, chief cardiologist at the Herma Heart Center of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, says you shouldn't be afraid to go to someone's aid, and don't worry about giving breaths; just give firm chest compressions.
"It's a change that's reflected in the new guidelines from last November, suggesting that in adults, hands-only CPR is the recommendation, and in fact it's more effective in resulting in survival."
Dr. Berger says just press firmly on the chest, to the beat of the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive".
"And that's a good song to keep in the back of your mind as you're doing the CPR. I would imagine when you're doing CPR, you're not necessarily singing the song or thinking of the song, but you could, and that beat gives you a good rate, at about a hundred compressions per minute."
The AHA says sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. Less than 8 percent of people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive, but Dr. Berger says that if it happens, immediate and effective CPR can literally save a life.
He says any attempt at CPR is better than no attempt.
"Absolutely. If somebody has a cardiac arrest, and you don't do CPR, the result is going to be a very poor outcome."
Dr. Berger admits a lot of people are afraid to do hands-only CPR, but they shouldn't be.
"There's little question that the percentage of people who do perform CPR is relatively low, and there's lots of data to suggest that if you intervene and you do CPR, you can save lives."
You can learn to do hands-only CPR at the website handsonlycpr.org.
|
|
|
VIEW OUR ARCHIVE
|
|
