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Do you know CPR? Do you know what CPR even stands for?
CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. “Cardio” refers to the pumping of the heart, by pumping the chest and “pulmonary” refers to giving breaths by mouth to deliver oxygen to the lungs.
CPR has been taught for over 30 years. It has been the “gold standard” for medical professionals and Good Samaritans alike. It has saved countless lives.
As a pharmacist, I have been trained and retrained in CPR and the changes in chest pumps and breaths. Nothing makes you more nervous than the mouth to mouth factor. Sure, you can use a CPR mask, but do you carry one of those around in your pocket every day?
If it is your son, daughter, mother, father it is not an issue, you are going to help a family or even a good friend. The ramifications of a stranger change the picture dramatically. You don’t know if they are ill, or if they have HIV, the questions and concern are endless. Bottom line, mouth to mouth is a barrier for a bystander to assist a person in distress.
But now there might be a game changer, a change in the process of CPR that you should know about and it could save someone’s life.
In March 2007 a team of Japanese researchers published a paper in Lancet, a prestigious medical journal findings of a rather large study of patients that received either traditional CPR or just chest pumps. Their findings call for a change in the norm. Individuals that received chest pumps alone had equal to better outcomes after a cardiac event when compared with patients that had traditional CPR.
“Cardiac-only resuscitation by bystanders is the preferable approach to resuscitation for adult patients with witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, especially those with apnoea, shockable rhythm, or short periods of untreated arrest…”
If you find yourself in a situation where you can help someone in distress, remember that there is evidence now that you can provide chest pumps alone until medical help arrives and statistically the patient should have at least the same chance of survival as a patient that receives full blown CPR.
Have you been a Good Samaritan?
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