CPR Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Rescue Breathing

You now need to check to see if the person is breathing normally.

• You do this by first opening the person's airway. Tilt the victim's head back by lifting the chin gently with one hand, while pushing down on the forehead with the other hand.
  
  
• Next, place your ear next to the victim's mouth and nose and look, listen, and feel: Look to see if the chest is rising, listen for any sounds of breathing, and feel for any air movement on your cheek. Taking no more than 5-10 seconds, if you do not see, hear, or feel any signs of normal breathing, you must breathe for the victim.
  
  
• While keeping the victim's head tilted back, place your mouth around the victim's mouth and pinch the victim's nose shut. Give 2 slow breaths, making sure that the person's chest rises with each breath.

Chest Compressions

After giving 2 breaths immediately begin chest compressions.

• Place the heel of one hand on the center of the chest, right between the nipples. Place the heel of your other hand on top of the first hand. Lock your elbows and position your shoulders directly above your hands. Press down on the chest with enough force to move the breastbone down about 2 inches. Compress the chest 30 times, at a rate of about 100 times per minute (slightly faster than once every second).
  
  
• After 30 compressions, stop, open the airway again, and provide the next 2 slow breaths. Then, position your hands in the same spot as before and perform another 30 chest compressions. Continue the cycles of 30 compressions and 2 breaths until an AED becomes available or until EMS providers arrive.
  
  
• This technique of performing CPR may be used on anyone older than eight years of age.

CPR in Children

Sudden cardiac arrest is less common in children than it is in adults. It usually happens when there is a lack of oxygen caused by a breathing problem such as choking, near-drowning, or respiratory infections. Because oxygen often corrects the problem in a child, when an unresponsive, non-breathing child is found, CPR is performed for 1 minute before activating the EMS system. This may reverse the lack of oxygen and revive the child.

In order to use an AED on a child from one year of age through eight years of age a special pediatric cable is used to reduce the amount of energy provided by the electrical shock.

Doing CPR on children aged one year to eight years is similar to doing CPR on adults. However, there are some minor differences. Most are due to the child's smaller size.

• When compressing the chest, the heel of only 1 hand is used instead of 2 hands, and the chest is pressed down about ½ of its depth.
  
  
• Perform 5 cycles of 30 chest compressions followed by 2 breaths, then use an AED to evaluate the heart rhythm if available.. If an AED is not available, and the child is still not breathing normally, coughing, or moving, continue cycles of 30 compressions to 2 breaths until help arrives.

CPR in Infants

An infant is defined as a child younger than one year of age. Because an infant is smaller than a child, the CPR technique for infants contains further changes.

• Even smaller breaths are given-enough to just get the chest to rise. Only 2 fingers are used to compress the chest down about 1 inch.
  
  
• Otherwise, the CPR sequence is the same as for the child.
  
  
• There are no recommendations for the use of AEDs in children less than one year of age.