Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency treatment that's done when someone's breathing or heartbeat has stopped. For example, when someone has a heart attack or nearly drowns. CPR can help save a life.
The American Heart Association recommends starting CPR by pushing hard and fast on the chest. The pushes are called compressions. This hands-only CPR recommendation is for both people without training and first responders.
Here's CPR advice from the American Heart Association:
The above advice applies to situations in which adults, children and infants need CPR, but not newborns. Newborns are babies up to 4 weeks old.
CPR can keep oxygen-rich blood flowing to the brain and other organs until emergency medical treatment can get the heart beating again. When the heart stops, the body no longer gets oxygen-rich blood. The lack of oxygen-rich blood can cause brain damage in only a few minutes.
If you are not trained but have immediate access to a phone, call 911 or your local emergency number before beginning CPR. The dispatcher can tell you how to do CPR until help arrives. To learn CPR properly, take an accredited first-aid training course. The course should include instructions on CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED).
If you're afraid to do CPR or unsure how to do CPR correctly, know that it's always better to try than to do nothing at all. The difference between doing something and doing nothing could be someone's life.
Before starting CPR, check:
The American Heart Association uses the letters C-A-B to help people remember the order to perform the steps of CPR.
Compressions means you use your hands to push down hard and fast in a specific way on the person's chest. Compressions are the most important step in CPR. Follow these steps for performing CPR compressions.
If you're trained in CPR and you've done 30 chest compressions, follow these steps to open the person's airway. This is called the head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver.
Rescue breathing can be mouth-to-mouth breathing or mouth-to-nose breathing if the mouth is seriously injured or can't be opened. Current recommendations suggest doing rescue breathing using a bag-mask device with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.
Follow these steps after opening the airway using the head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver.
The process for giving CPR to a child age 1 through puberty is essentially the same as that for an adult — follow the C-A-B steps. The American Heart Association says you should not delay CPR and offers this advice on how to perform CPR on a child:
If you are alone and didn't see the child collapse, start chest compressions and continue for about two minutes. Then quickly call 911 or your local emergency number and get an AED if one is available.
If you're alone and you did see the child collapse, call 911 or your local emergency number first. Then get an AED, if available, and start CPR. If another person is with you, have that person call for help and get the AED while you start CPR.
If you're trained in CPR and you've performed 30 chest compressions, open the child's airway using the head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver.
Follow these steps for mouth-to-mouth breathing for a child.
Continue until the child moves or help arrives.
Cardiac arrest in babies is usually due to a lack of oxygen, such as from choking. If you know that the baby has an airway blockage, perform first aid for choking. If you don't know why the baby isn't breathing, perform CPR.
First, study the situation. Touch the baby and watch for a response, such as movement. Don't shake the baby.
If there's no response, call 911 or your local emergency number, then start CPR right away.
Follow the compressions, airway and breathing method for a baby under age 1. Do not follow this procedure for newborns, which include babies up to 4 weeks old.
If you saw the baby collapse, get an AED, if available, before starting CPR. If you're with another person who can help, have that person call for help right away and get the AED while you stay with the baby and perform CPR.
