How to know when to start cadiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or CPR can be very confronting for many people. This is a skill that is essential to know.

What is a cardiac arrest?

For our heart to pump we need an electrical and mechanical response. Our hearts are a muscle that contract to pump blood around the body. For the heart muscle to contract we need electrical activity which is our heartbeat. In a heart attack there is a blockage in one of the arteries in the heart muscle. In this situation a person is awake and talking to you, often complaining of chest pain. Whereas a cardiac arrest is when the electrical activity has malfunctioned or stopped and therefore the heart muscle stops pumping, and we need to manually help pump the blood to the brain to maintain life.

When to start CPR?

There is often a lot of confusion around when to start CPR and apprehension about starting CPR. When do I start? What if I start too early? What if I hurt them?       

If your child is not breathing and not responsive START CPR. The worst thing you can do in CPR is to do nothing. If you break a rib or cause some bruising this is ok. You would rather this and your child survives.

Unfortunately the chance of survival with out of hospital cardiac arrest remains low. For ever minute CPR is delayed, there is a decrease of 10% chance of survival.

Hopefully you never have to perform CPR however, if you do chances are it will be on someone you love.

CLick HERE to learn CPR today. Trust me you wont regret it.