Saturday, 31 July 2010 21:22 | 
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The reports also suggest that more people would be willing to perform CPR if they didn't also have to worry about mouth-to-mouth breathing as well.
Researchers studied the outcomes of CPR performed by callers to 911 who were then instructed by dispatchers over the phone.
“The results support a strategy for CPR performed by laypersons that emphasizes chest compression and minimizes the role of rescue breathing,” according to the New England Journal of Medicine.”
The new research backs-up positions taken two years ago by the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross that compression-only CPR could be beneficial when started immediately by bystanders witnessing someone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. Both organizations advocate the traditional compressions and breaths when possible, however.
More than 300,000 people suffer sudden cardiac arrests each year, and only 6 percent survive, according to AHA statistics. However, less than a third get bystander CPR, which could increase survival rates.
Conventional CPR requires rescuers to compress a victim's chest 30 times followed by two breaths delivered mouth to mouth. However, research has indicated some bystanders worry about the transmission of disease by putting their mouth on that of a stranger.
The hands-only method provides immediate assistance while removing those fears.
“Bystanders who witness the sudden collapse of an adult should immediately call 9-1-1 and start what we call Hands-Only CPR. This involves providing high-quality chest compressions by pushing hard and fast in the middle of the victim’s chest, without stopping until emergency medical services (EMS) responders arrive,” Michael Sayre, M.D., an associate professor in the Ohio State University Department of Emergency Medicine, said in a statement when the AHA policy was first released.
For more information and helpful videos please visit: http://www.handsonlycpr.com
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