The American Heart Association (AHA) on October 18, 2010 has unveiled its new guidelines on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), which aim to improve rescue time and make the process easier. The “2010 American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care” went online on October 18, 2010 in AHA’s publication, Circulation (http://circ.ahajournals.org/).
No worries, your First Voice manufactured equipment is not obsolete! All First Voice manufactured products and software are fully upgradeable.
Think Safe will work diligently to update our First Voice audio and text prompts, instruction manuals, and any other materials for the 2010 CPR guideline updates. It will take all major training organizations 6-9 months to release updated training materials to instructors. All First Voice modifications and updates will be available before December 31, 2010 and we will post updates on our blog and provide email notifications of any upgrade completions and how to notify your customers for their upgrade.
What are the changes in CPR? Here is a summary of the CPR updates to help you understand differences in protocol and new training requirements.
Starting CPR with chest compressions helps save lives
Emphasizing that every second counts, the new guidelines recommend that instead of first opening an unconscious person’s airway and breathing into his mouth, rescuers—whether onlookers or emergency experts—should initiate chest compressions immediately to revive victims of a sudden cardiac arrest.
The stress on the primacy of chest compressions over oral resuscitation led the AHA to revise the standard CPR procedure from the familiar ABC (Airway-Breathing-Compressions) to CAB (Compressions-Airway-Breathing).
“For more than 40 years, CPR training has emphasized the ABCs of CPR, which instructed people to open a victim’s airway by tilting their head back, pinching the nose and breathing into the victim’s mouth, and only then giving chest compressions,” Michael Sayre, M.D., co-author of the guidelines and chairman of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee, said in an AHA press release. “This approach was causing significant delays in starting chest compressions, which are essential for keeping oxygen-rich blood circulating through the body. Changing the sequence from A-B-C to C-A-B for adults and children allows all rescuers to begin chest compressions right away.”
C-A-B takes into account that, in the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest, some amount of oxygen remains in the lungs and bloodstream of the patient. Chest compressions can pump that blood to the victim’s brain and heart sooner. In contrast, the traditional “old” A-B-C method delays the start of chest compressions; the rescuer has to tilt the victim’s head to open up the airway and apply breaths to commence mouth-to-mouth.
Giving initial chest compressions was found to trim off 30 critical seconds in rescue time and potentially helps save the patient’s life.
Hands On
A couple years ago, the American Heart Association recommended that untrained bystanders use hands-only CPR for an adult victim who suddenly collapses. The new guidelines make this the official policy and include health-care professionals as well. The process also applies for children and infants but excludes newborns.
The AHA hopes that with the updated rules, more people will volunteer to help a heart attack victim. Experts have noted the reluctance of passersby to give aid out of panic, uncertainty about their lifesaving skills, and squeamishness of mouth-to-mouth breathing. With hands-only CPR, the steps are streamlined: Call 911 and push hard and fast on the center of the chest until help arrives.
NEW Guidelines Summary
Here are the new 2010 guidelines from the AHA:
1. Before starting, shake the victim’s shoulders and shout to get his reaction. If the victim is unresponsive, call 911, which should now instruct callers by phone to start chest compressions when cardiac arrest is suspected.
2. Removal of “look, listen, and feel for breathing” from the sequence. Instead, Begin chest compressions. At least 100 per minute from the previous instruction of close to 100. Compressions must also be strong enough to depress the chest by at least 2 inches in adults and 1.5 inches in infants. This will allow blood and oxygen to keep flowing to the brain until medics arrive.
3. Make sure to fully release the chest before beginning the next compression. Avoid leaning on the victim’s chest so it can return to the starting position.
4. For rescuers with no CPR training, continue chest compressions until help comes.
5. For trained health professionals, open the airway after 30 chest compressions and begin mouth-to-mouth breathing. Give two breaths and then resume chest compressions. Continue sets of 30 chest compressions and two breaths until help arrives.
The last resuscitation guidelines were publicized in 2005. For more information on the new rules, check out the heart association’s video “2010 Guidelines for CPR” on YouTube.
There are devices, like the First Voice Emergency Instruction Device (EID) that provide instruction via audio and text for emergencies including CPR – from scene safety to assessment to administration of chest compressions and breaths (if appropriate) to proper PPE for rescuers and cleanup. The First Voice EID retails at $249US and is available from safety and first aid dealers nationally. Visit www.firstvoice.us for more information or:
http://www.firstvoice.us/Products/EmergencyInstructionDevice/tabid/285/Default.aspx
Various Think Safe EID brands/models can be purchased in over 6 languages and with US or European protocols (compliant with all major training organizations and easily updateable via datacard replacement ports). Please contact us for full details on model/part numbers and language configurations at or email us at info@think-safe.com for more information. Think Safe – Making Minutes Matter and saving more lives with effective CPR and CPR Training!
Sources:Circulation (http://circ.ahajournals.org/)
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