For most part, majority of the people all over the world are quite aware about the importance of CPR and First Aid when it comes to saving lives. Unfortunately, although the importance of the said procedures are not lost, how it should be done is, altogether, a different matter.
One of the things that you need to remember whether you are administering CPR or other first aid treatment is to make sure that you are safe and secure. You would not be able to save a life if yours is also in harm’s way. That being the case, you should not just jump and go inside a burning building without determining first if the building is structurally safe.
Before you take any step, you have to figure out first whether the patient is conscious or unconscious. This can easily be done by shaking and/ or shouting at the patient. If the patient is unresponsive, you might have to administer CPR. If the patient responds but seems to be disoriented,have him or her lay down comfortably and wait for the professionals to arrive. In the latter case, of course, there is no need for you to perform a CPR.
It is also a good thing to keep in mind that not all cases concerning an unconscious victim would respond to CPR. CPR is typically used for cardiac arrest victims. This means that the said life-saving procedure would only prove to be helpful if the heart has already stopped pumping blood. CPR is used in order to simulate artificial circulation of the blood. What this does is keep the tissues of various organs from drying. Keep in mind that a dead tissue can cause organ failure. You also have to be aware of the fact that cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack. Cardiac arrests lead to sudden unconsciousness with the victim often no pulse. In a heart attack, the victim typically suffers from a number of warning signs such as heavy feeling on the chest, numbness of the exterior limbs, and difficulty breathing.
Due to the changes made by the American Heart Association when it comes to handling CPR, the first thing that you would need to do is to administer chest compression before checking the airway and administering breaths. If, by chance, you are not familiar with how CPR is done, you can just do chest compression until the paramedics arrive. The only thing that you would need to remember is that your compression should be at least 2 inches deep. You should also be able to do as much as 100 compressions in a minute. The best way to go about this would be to go along the beat of “Stayin’ Alive”. If possible, do not stop doing the compression. If you feel yourself getting tired and the paramedics has not yet arrived, your best move would be to have someone take over.
A good way to ready yourself for any kind of medical emergency would be to take up a CPR training and certification program under Citywide CPR.
