Hands-only CPR enough to save a life

[paddy]

The Times of India:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 234458.cms


ATLANTA: More bystanders are willing to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions — especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research.

The two new studies conclude that "hands-only" chest compression is enough to save a life. They are the largest and most rigorous yet to suggest that breathing into a victim's mouth isn't needed in most cases. The American Heart Association has been promoting hands-only CPR for two years. The new studies should encourage dispatchers and bystanders to be more aggressive about using the simpler technique.

"That could translate into hundreds if not thousands of additional lives saved each year. What are we waiting for?" said Arthur Kellermann, a RAND Corporation expert on emergency medicine.

When someone collapses and stops breathing, many people panic and believe that calling emergency helplines is the best they can do to help.

The larger of the two new studies reported survival rates of about 12% when bystanders did dispatcher-directed CPR, confirming earlier research that on-scene CPR can dramatically increase a victim's odds of survival.

The studies also spotlighted the importance of having forceful dispatchers coaching bystanders, said Michael Sayre, an Ohio State University emergency medicine specialist who helped update the Heart Association's CPR guidelines.

The standard CPR version calls for alternating 30 hard pushes on a victim's chest with two quick breaths into their mouth.

In both studies (one in London and the Seattle area, and the other in Sweden) there was no significant difference in the survival rates of people who got conventional CPR and those who got the hands-only version. The studies are published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The aim of CPR is to do some of the mechanical work of the heart by forcing at least some blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.

[thomast1]

this is some good info. But does an average guy in India know how to perform CPR?