People who have had the misfortune of being out of breath or fainted for no apparent reason are grateful for going through a CPR Procedure.
CPR makes the difference between life and a tragedy and is a useful tool in your skillset. We show the steps in this article.
What is CPR?
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique employed by anyone in the position of a lifesaver during an emergency. They do so when the victim has stopped breathing or when his or her heart has stopped.
The American Heart Association suggests that a person administering CPR should start doing so with chest compressions.
It is always better to perform CPR than not to do so at all, even if you feel that you don’t know all the steps. It can mean the difference between life or death.
The steps to CPR keeps blood and the oxygen within it flowing to the brain. It helps until definitive medical treatment can restore the victim’s heart rhythm.
Types of CPR Processes
A CPR Procedure isn’t merely putting hands over a patient’s chest and delivering compressions.
There are many kinds of CPR, and rescuers will be better equipped to provide it if they knew which was appropriate in the circumstances.
1. Compressions with rescue breaths
Trained rescuers recommend compression to the ventilation rate of 30:2. Two trained rescuers who perform CPR at a rate of 15:2 is ideal when rescuing small children.
An advanced airway like an endotracheal tube eases the process. Oxygenation and breathing take place within 10 minutes. Experts recommend interventions in this order – Compression, Airway, and Breathing.
2. Compression only
In such cases, there should be two rescuers on hand. One administers CPR while the other prepares for defibrillation.
Untrained rescuers should only perform compression-only CPR without ventilation. It has a higher success rate than other CPR procedures. Compression-only CPR is quicker to complete, with relatively simple instructions required. Rescuers should deliver compressions at a rate of 100 per minute and be gentle with babies.
3. Prone CPR
Rescuers should perform standard CPR with the patient in a supine position. They should then turn his or her head to the side. Then, compress the back. Turning the head reduces breathing difficulties and vomiting.
The American Heart Association recommends that rescuers only perform Prone CPR when they cannot turn the patient’s body.
4. Pregnancy
In a pregnant woman, the uterus compresses the vena cava or the vein which carries oxygenated blood from the middle and lower parts of the body to the right atrium of the heart. This decreases the amount of blood that the heart receives.
Therefore, healthcare professionals recommend pushing the uterus to the woman’s left. Roll the woman at an angle of 30 degrees and if this doesn’t work, try resuscitative hysterectomy. This procedure is an emergency C-Section performed on women who have entered cardiac arrest.
CPR Procedure: Different CPR Scenarios
You may encounter different scenarios when you need to perform CPR. Knowing these will enable you to assess if you should administer it.
Scenario 1: Unconsciousness
Your workplace isn’t hazardous, as the work involved is primarily administrative. However, you find your colleague slumped over her desk one day. You cannot find her pulse. She is unconscious and not breathing. You haven’t any knowledge of prior medical conditions or diseases and must perform CPR
Scenario 2: Choking Hazard
You’re having lunch and are having a pleasant conversation. Abruptly, someone starts breathing rapidly and gasping for air. The victim slumps to the floor. You recognize the symptoms of choking and prepare to administer the Heimlich Maneuver but cannot do so because she collapses on the floor. You must administer CPR.
Scenario 3: Workplace Accident
A colleague has worked on two consecutive shifts and is exhausted. She falls while trying to complete her tasks and the books that she is carrying fall on her. She is unconscious and bleeding profusely. CPR processes are necessary.
Scenario 4: Heart Arrest
During a meeting, your supervisor who’s sitting across from you puts her hands on her chest. She knows that it’s a heart attack because she’s had one before. She becomes unconscious before the paramedics arrive, so you must administer CPR as she is no longer breathing.
Scenario 5: Chemical Exposure
You smell a chemical odor in a laboratory in your workplace. Your chemical hood is functioning correctly. Later, a co-worker, who’s not wearing one, staggers and collapses. You’re unsure if she has fainted due to the chemical odor, so you should put on an escape mask and leave the lab immediately. However, you must get her to a clean area before attempting to revive her.
7 Steps to CPR that can save lives
Open the victim’s airway to check if he or she is breathing. Get help if you’re not alone or send another person to do so. You don’t have to get a certification in order to know how to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. All it takes is to follow the below CPR procedure steps:
1. Positioning the hand
Lay the patient on a firm surface. As you kneel at his side, place the heel of your hand in the middle of his chest.
2. Interlocking the fingers
Straighten your arms. Then, cover one hand with the heel of the other and interlock your fingers as you do so. Raise your fingers so that they don’t touch the patient’s rib cage.
3. Give chest compressions
To give compressions, lean forward. Place your shoulders directly over the chest of the patient. Press down on the chest by about two inches. Release the pressure, keeping your hands firmly on the chest. Let the chest rise.
Repeat giving 30 chest compressions at the rate of 100 compressions per minute. Note that doing Hands-Only CPR steps is comfortable for some bystanders, who should keep at it until professional help arrives.
4. Open the airway
Tilt the patient’s head and lift his chin to open his airway. Let his mouth fall open.5. Give rescue breaths Pinch his nostrils and close them. Support his chin and lift it with your other hand. Breathe normally, Blow until you see his chest rise.
6. Watch chest fall
Remove your mouth and watch the patient’s chest rise and fall. Repeat steps five and six together with the first aid tips that are necessary.
7. Repeat chest compressions and rescue breaths
Place your hands on the patient’s chest once more and repeat the compressions cycle continuously.
The Consequences of performing CPR
CPR steps save lives. A person who’s not breathing would certainly die without it. It also has other positive consequences.
1. Organ donation
Administering CPR processes raises the possibility of organ donation, even if it can’t save patients. Their families can donate their organs as long as here is spontaneous blood circulation. Kidneys and livers are useable as long as CPR continues until the patient enters an operating room. Patients who have received CPR donate about 1000 organs a year.
2. Mental abilities
Although cognition is about the same for survivors before and after Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, about 1% more survivors entered comatose states than those who didn’t receive CPR. Only 5% of patients who received it needed help with daily activities. Just 5% had mild mental disorders and could function independently.
Also, more patients in comas experience recovery in a matter of two to three weeks. Those with mental illnesses recover in about half a year.
3. Injuries
87% of patients with CPR experience injuries. 13% of patients who sustain injuries experience broken sternums, lung injuries, and internal bleeding. A few experience damage to the abdomen, while some have liver lacerations. About 3% of them have broken ribs while costal cartilage breaks in some cases.
Just 3% of patients had lung injuries. Most of these injuries did not affect the care of the patients or how they recovered. Bones heal in one or two months. Some people felt that chest injuries are worth the lives saved because of CPR compressions.
In all, a CPR procedure gives a person a new lease of life. Take measures to learn the steps to CPR today.
