The Basics Of CPR For Adults

What is CPR?

— CPR stands for “car­diopulmonary resusci­tation.” It is a way to get blood and oxygen moving throughout the body of someone whose heart has stopped working.

This is an emergency lifesaving procedure per­formed when the heart stops beating, aimed at maintaining blood circu­lation and breathing, in a person who is in cardiac arrest.

CPR can save a person’s life. It can prevent the brain and other organs from be­ing damaged by a lack of oxygen. You do it until the heart can be shocked back into action or until it becomes clear the person cannot be saved.

In places like Nigeria, Lagos especially, with stressful living conditions, cardiac arrest is on the rise. Knowing how to administer CPR immediately on a vic­tim increases their chances of survival by up to 10 per­cent while they wait for an ambulance service.

Over half of sudden cardiac arrest patients had warning signs before their incident. In men, chest pains are experienced be­fore a cardiac arrest, and in women shortness of breath. These signs are better known in developed countries and less in devel­oping countries like Nige­ria.

The instructions for performing CPR on adults are different from those for performing CPR on chil­dren. This article is about performing CPR on adults.

How do I know if a person needs CPR?

— If you encounter an adult who has passed out, tap the person forcefully and ask, “Are you OK?” If the person does not re­spond, is not breathing, or is breathing abnormally (gasping), call for an am­bulance. Then start CPR.

The person who has passed out and needs CPR is often called the “victim.” The person who does CPR is often called the “rescu­er.”

What if I don’t know how to do CPR?

— You can do CPR even if you have never done it before and have never been trained. All you have to do is press HARD AND FAST on the center of the victim’s chest. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what you are doing.

Pressing on the chest for CPR is called doing “com­pressions.” To do compres­sions, ensure the victim is on a flat, solid surface. Then kneel over the victim, stack your hands on top of one another with both palms facing down, and lock your fingers together. Holding your arms straight, press on the center of the vic­tim’s chest with the heel of your bottom hand. Use your body weight, rather than the strength of your arms, to press on the chest. Pushing like this squeezes the victim’s heart and gets blood moving again.

With each push, make sure the victim’s chest drops down at least 2 inch­es under your weight. Be­tween compressions, lift all pressure off the victim’s chest so that it goes back to where it was. Keep pushing hard and fast on the center of the chest. The goal is to do at least 100 compres­sions a minute.

Keep doing compres­sions until an ambulance comes or someone trained in healthcare takes over. If you get tired, ask someone else to take a turn. Try to switch places quickly so there isn’t a break. Do not worry about breathing for the victim or doing any­thing besides compres­sions.

Does everyone do CPR the same way?

— No. People trained in health­care do CPR dif ferently than other people. Peo­ple trained in health­care check a person’s pulse before s t a r t i n g CPR. Then they follow three main steps, which are easy to remember based on the letters C-A-B:

● “C” stands for “Do chest c o m p re s ­sions.” – For this part, the rescuer does 30 compres­sions as described above.

● “A” stands for “Check the airway.” – For this part, the rescuer checks the po­sition of the victim’s head and jaw to ensure the vic­tim can breathe. If needed, the rescuer might move the victim’s head or jaw to get the airway open.

● “B” stands for “Do rescue breathing.” For this part, the rescuer holds the victim’s nose shut and forms a seal over his or her mouth. Then, the rescuer breathes into the victim’s mouth to get some new air—with more oxygen— into his or her lungs. The rescuer gives two breaths this way and then switch­es back and forth between compressions and rescue breathing until an ambu­lance comes or someone else takes over.

Have the guidelines on how to do CPR changed?

— Yes. The American Heart Association (AHA) changed the guidelines about how to do CPR in 2010. It used to be that all rescuers were expected to check a victim’s airway and give rescue breaths if the victim was not breath­ing. Now people who do not know CPR are advised to do “hands-only” CPR, mean­ing they do only chest com­pressions and do not worry about the airway or rescue breathing.

People are sometimes afraid to perform CPR, especially if they must perform rescue breathing. Hands-only CPR is easi­er, and experts hope that people will be more com­fortable with it. The most important thing to do for someone whose heart has stopped is to get blood mov­ing again. That’s why com­pressions are so important and why it is better to do just compressions than nothing at all.

MKO Abimbola holds a doctor­al degree in physician associate studies from the United States of America. He is a Harvard Medical School scholar, who specializes in Internal medi­cine, Acute care, Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Psychia­try, and Surgical services.