# 4989
Just 8 hours post-embargo, we’ve got the new American Heart Association 2010 CPR Guidelines, including the media kit with a ton of supporting information, and a terrific new video.
As a former AHA CPR Instructor (as not to play favorites, I was also an American Red Cross Instructor), these new guidelines are of particular interest to me. Much has changed since I taught the class, based on research that I’ve covered in this blog in the recent past.
Excerpts from the press release, followed by a couple of the promotional aids, and finally the 3 minute video.
A New Order for CPR, Spelled C-A-B
Statement Highlights:
- The 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC update the 2005 guidelines.
- When administering CPR, immediate chest compressions should be done first.
- Untrained lay people are urged to administer Hands-Only CPR (chest compressions only).
DALLAS, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association is re-arranging the ABCs of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in its 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Recommending that chest compressions be the first step for lay and professional rescuers to revive victims of sudden cardiac arrest, the association said the A-B-Cs (Airway-Breathing-Compressions) of CPR should now be changed to C-A-B (Compressions-Airway-Breathing).
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All victims in cardiac arrest need chest compressions. In the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest, victims will have oxygen remaining in their lungs and bloodstream, so starting CPR with chest compressions can pump that blood to the victim's brain and heart sooner. Research shows that rescuers who started CPR with opening the airway took 30 critical seconds longer to begin chest compressions than rescuers who began CPR with chest compressions.
The change in the CPR sequence applies to adults, children and infants, but excludes newborns.
Other recommendations, based mainly on research published since the last AHA resuscitation guidelines in 2005:
- During CPR, rescuers should give chest compressions a little faster, at a rate of at least 100 times a minute.
- Rescuers should push deeper on the chest, compressing at least two inches in adults and children and 1.5 inches in infants.
- Between each compression, rescuers should avoid leaning on the chest to allow it to return to its starting position.
- Rescuers should avoid stopping chest compressions and avoid excessive ventilation.
- All 9-1-1 centers should assertively provide instructions over the telephone to get chest compressions started when cardiac arrest is suspected.
Given the changes in how CPR is performed, and that this is Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month (see MMWR: Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month) wouldn’t this be a good time to take (or re-take) a CPR training class?
It only takes a few hours, and it could end up helping you save the life of someone you love.
To find a local CPR course contact your local chapter of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or (usually) your local fire department or EMS can steer you to a class.
