NO BREATHS
MOUTH TO MOUTH ISN’T NEEDED FOR MOST CPR, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
The majority of people who experience a heart attack in a place outside of a hospital need chest compression immediately, but mouth to mouth breathing is not necessary, two studies in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine conclude. Myron Weisfeldt, chief of medicine at Johns Hopkins and a CPR expert, says the take home message is clear.
WEISFELDT: What’s important about this is that every American who sees a cardiac arrest victim can do something to improve the chances that they’re going to survive. No question about it, if a bystander does CPR the survival rate is 20 to 100% increased depending upon the exact population that we’re talking about. And what this study shows is that all you need to do as a bystander, in most adults, is to just compress the chest rhythmically and forcefully and you will improve the chance for survival. :35
Right now only 15 to 30% of bystanders attempt CPR. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
