You can achieve a high chest compression fraction by compressing the victim’s chest at a rate of 100–120 compressions per minute to a depth of 2–2.4 inches. Avoiding leaning on the chest to allow for full chest wall recoil after each compression and minimize pauses in compressions.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is a lifesaving technique used when emergencies occur to increase the patient’s chance of survival while waiting for the emergency medical team to arrive. These medical situations include near-drowning, heart attack, and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. CPR comprises chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth respiration. CPR allows blood oxygen to circulate to the brain and the heart, which are vital organs. CPR keeps the patient alive until further advanced procedures like defibrillation, an electric shock to the chest- are done to treat the cardiac arrest. Without enough oxygenated blood may lead to brain damage after a few minutes. Therefore, there are minimal chances of recurring cardiac arrest because the patient suffers.
Why Should You Learn CPR?
Anyone, including workplace employees and healthcare workers, should learn how to perform effective CPR procedure since it has the following benefits:
- You can learn valuable life skills.
- You can help prevent brain death.
- You can keep their families safe.
- You feel confident in case an accident occurs.
- You help to save lives, among others.
Also Read- A Study sGuide for CPR/AED Class
In addition, CPR can be learned by anyone, even if you are not working in the emergency medical field. It can be learned by parents or anyone who just wants to be prepared for medical emergencies. Online certification is a great way to be trained and certified in first aid and lifesaving CPR skills.
When is CPR Needed?
CPR should be used when an adult stops breathing. In an infant or a child, CPR should be used when breathing is not normal. It is recommended to use Pediatric CPR if the child or an adult is not responding when you tap or talk to them. The following are some of the circumstances that may cause breathing to stop, and CPR might be carried out on the patient:
- heart attack or cardiac arrest
- near-drowning
- poisoning
- suffocation
- road accident
- choking
- electrocution
- an alcohol or drug overdose, and
- suspected infant death syndrome
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Basic CPR Steps:
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation can significantly improve a person’s survival rate if they stop breathing or suffer a heart attack. Here are the basic steps of CPR:
Step 1. Contact Emergency Response Team:
First, ensure that you are not in danger, like falling masonry or fire. Now check the person if they need help. If they are not replying after tapping them on their shoulder and shouting to them if they are okay, contact emergency response teams like 911 or ask a bystander to contact them for you before carrying out CPR.
Step 2. Lay the patient on their back and open their airway:
Carefully, place the patient on their back, followed by kneeling beside their chest. Lift their chin by tilting their head back slightly. Open their mouth and look for any blockage, like vomit and remove them by any means necessary.
Step 3. Inspect if the person is breathing:
Position your ear close to the patient’s mouth and listen intently for about 10 seconds. If the person is not breathing, begin CPR. Avoid performing CPR if the person is unconscious and they are breathing. Keep tracking their breathing and start performing CPR if breathing stops.
Step 4. Carry Out 30 Chest Compressions:
Put one of your hands on top of the other and clasp them together. Keeping your elbows straight together with the heel of the hand, push fast and hard on the chest center, just below the nipples. For an adult, push at least 2 inches deep. Compress the chest at a rate of 100 times per minute, letting the chest fully rise between the compressions.
For a child, use one hand and place it at the center of their chest (sternum). Press down fast and hard around one-third depth of the chest, at 100 times per minute. For an infant, use two fingers, placing them at the sternum, slightly below the chest, and between the nipples. Carry out about 30 compressions which are about 1.5 inches deep.
Step 5. Carry out Rescue Breaths:
After tilting their head back slightly and lifting their chin, making sure that the mouth is apparent, shut their nose by a pinch. Put your mouth over theirs fully and blow air in, making the chest rise. Repeat the breaths making sure the chest rises again.
Step 6. Repeat the above process:
Repeat the cycle of about 30 compressions accompanied by two rescue breaths until help arrives or the patient regains breathing. If an AED is available, continue performing CPR until the machine is set up and ready to use.
Administering timely Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is sometimes referred to as the difference between life and death. However, some critical parameters must be carried out carefully for CPR to be more effective and accurate.
Also Read- 5 Common CPR Side Effects That Everyone Should Know
What Is High-Quality CPR?
High-quality CPR should meet the metrics set by the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines. When cardiac arrest victim receives high-quality CPR, their chances of survival and the neurological outcome will improve. In fact, high-quality CPR makes it up to four times more likely that a victim neurologically recovers.
Factors that should be considered to ensure High-Quality CPR
The latest guidelines of the American Heart Association and Emergency Cardiovascular Care identified five critical components required for providing high-quality CPR. These are:
- Achieving a compression rate CPR of 100–120 chest compressions per minute.
- The compression depth for CPR is 2–2.4 inches (5–6 centimeters).
- Avoiding leaning on the chest to allow for full chest wall recoil after each compression.
- Minimizing pauses in compressions (high chest compression fraction > 60%).
- Avoiding excessive ventilation by maintaining two breaths to every 30 compressions without advanced airway or ten breaths per minute with advanced airway.
Also Read- What is a Bag Valve Mask Ventilation and How to use it?
Compression Rate:
The clear priority during CPR is to administer an effective chest compression rates for the patient. If the rescuer cannot coordinate the patient’s breathing, like finding it too time-consuming or unpleasant, the patient may die. An effective chest compression alone has a lot of benefits. Chest compression rates, which measure how fast CPR is performed, should be 100 and 120 compressions per minute. The person administering CPR should ensure that chest compressions are not too slow. If the compressions are too slow, the blood is not being circulated efficiently around the body.
On the other hand, if compressions are very fast, the heart is not given enough time to be filled with blood. This means that the cardiac output will fall off. Thus for effective chest compressions during CPR, the rescuer should carefully perform the compression rate.
Compression Depth:
Compression depth is another factor that should be considered very crucial for effective compressions during CPR. It measures how deep the center of the chest – sternum- is pushed down when CPR is being performed. For most adults, the preferred depth compression is two inches. In addition, the chest should be allowed to fully recoil after every compression. This is equally important as it will enable the heart to be filled with blood which consequently helps to improve cardiac output.
Compression Fraction:
Chest Compression fraction simply means the amount of time taken during a cardiac arrest while performing a CPR procedure. It also means that it will take time for cardiac output to build up again. It is, therefore, reasonable to minimize interruptions during CPR so that high-quality Resuscitation is gained. For example, suppose the bystander administering CPR gets tired and wants to exchange with another person to continue administering CPR. In that case, the exchange should not exceed 10 seconds. Then, the compressions should continue as the other rescuers place an AED if it is available.
Ventilatory Rate:
For patients that require ventilation, ventilation rate is the rate at which ventilations are delivered mostly through a bag-valve-mask. Ventilation rate should be regulated as hyperventilating or over ventilating can significantly affect the outcome of effective CPR. For instance, increased pressure in the chest cavity may be caused by too much ventilation.
Getting CPR Certification Online
CPR training is offered in some community training centers and has proven valuable. CPR training centers have significantly increased because most employers and hospitals require their employees to learn and acquire certifications for CPR. Online CPR classes have also been created, which are more accessible and convenient for individuals or workers who are only available on weekends or during their off days.
Online CPR training is perfect for professionals who work with busy schedules or 9-5 jobs. The program can be flexible and affordable, and anyone can finish the course at their own pace. Most of the available courses follows the latest guidelines of the American Heart Association and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. A person can decide to learn the course online from anywhere, and when their schedule clears up, they can now choose to have their hands-on training. The important thing here is to acquire CPR skills, either for career reasons or employment, whether acquired online or in physical learning, to confidently face health and medical emergencies.
Take a Free CPR, AED & First Aid Practice Test and prepare yourself for the official certification exam.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the recommended compression rate for high-quality CPR?
To ensure high-quality CPR, the recommended chest compression rate is 100- 120 compressions per minute. Compression rates above or below this range reduce the victim’s chances of survival.
When performing high quality CPR when do pauses in compressions typically occur?
American Heart Association (AHA) recommends minimal pauses in chest compressions during high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In adult CPR, the compression to ventilation ratio is 30:2, so after 30 compressions, you should give 2 breaths. After giving the breaths, you should immediately resume compressions. In pediatric CPR, the ratio is 15:2, so after 15 compressions, you should give 2 breaths and then immediately resume compressions. Pauses in compressions should be minimized as much as possible because they reduce the amount of blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. An analysis of CPR interventions after IHCAs at an Atlanta hospital found the sole factor that consistently impacted survival was the number of pauses in chest compressions greater than 10 seconds during resuscitation efforts.
Why is it important to compress to the appropriate depth during CPR?
It is essential to compress to the appropriate depth during CPR to create blood flow during compressions. The depth of chest compressions for an adult victim should be at least 2 inches.
Should I stop compressions if the victim gasps?
Gasping is a common sign of cardiac arrest, and it often occurs a few minutes after the arrest and will continue when effective compressions are delivered. Therefore, it is not a sign of recovery. Just continue doing chest compressions until the emergency medical team arrives.
Is it necessary to remove the victim’s clothes to do Hands-Only CPR?
It is unnecessary to remove a victim’s clothing for chest compression or Hands-only CPR. However, if an AED is available, turn on the device and follow the instructions to “remove patient’s clothing”, whether you are performing conventional or hands-only CPR. Defibrillator pads must be placed directly on the patient’s skin to conduct the electrical current.
Conclusion:
CPR quality is a critical determinant of survival after cardiac arrest. Every person should make an effort to acquire CPR skills because they can be beneficial if an accident occurs, be it at home at the workplace. It will help in increasing the survival rate of cardiac arrest victims.
These skills may help save lives, prevent brain damage of a person under cardiac arrest and keep family members safe, among other benefits. One should also ensure that chest compressions are effective during CPR by considering such factors as compression rate, compression depth, compression factor, and ventilator rate. This can be achieved through tight schedules at work. They can learn how to perform high-quality procedures. This way, accidents and death at the workplace and even at home are reduced tremendously. online CPR certifications for healthcare workers
