American Heart Association releases new CPR recommendations
From providing potentially life-saving care during a cardiac arrest to helping a person who's choking or overdosing on opioids, the American Heart Association's CPR guidelines are meant to help everyday people respond in an emergency.
This week, the American Heart Association released updated guidelines for CPR.
Dr. Ashish Panchal, with Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, is one of the writers of the updated guidance, which begins with new guidelines for choking in conscious children and adults.
It’s recommended that the patient receive alternating five back blows, followed by five abdominal thrusts until the object is expelled or the person becomes unresponsive.
“With infants, we do five back blows and five chest thrusts with the heel of your arm to relieve that foreign body, and this is the way that we could actually get them breathing again," Panchal said.
Every year in the U.S., about 350,000 people go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital, and because acting quickly can mean the difference between life and death, the updated guidelines say CPR can effectively be taught to children 12 years and older.
The new guidelines also recommend support more CPR training in the community.
“Once somebody suddenly collapses for no apparent reason, call 911, push hard and fast. Even if you don't know what you're doing, the responder on the phone — that dispatcher — will help you walk through this so that you can save this person’s life," Panchal said.
The updated guidelines also include a new set of rules for treating people with suspected opioid overdose, which includes spreading awareness about when to use naloxone, which can be given to reverse the overdose.
The American Heart Association also released new songs that have the best tempo for resuscitation.
The most famous song associated with CPR is "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. However, songs like "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars, "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake, and "Levitating" by Dua Lipa were some of the songs recently recommended for CPR tempos by the American Heart Association.
