Updated CPR guidelines address physical and emotional recovery

The last updated guidelines in 2015 reiterate the importance of having more bystanders perform hands-only CPR until emergency personnel arrive. Less than 40% of people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest receive CPR from bystanders.

“Cardiac arrest is a life-threatening situation. When every second is important, it is important that the general public is ready to start CPR and is willing to start it,” said AHA Emergency Cardiovascular Care Commission Chair. Said Dr. Raina Merchant. The guidelines are published in the AHA Journal Circulation. She is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

The guidelines recommend that general rescuers start CPR for people who are presumed to have cardiac arrest because the risk of harm to the patient from CPR is low even if the heart beats unstoppable.

“We strongly reaffirm that the general public needs to press hard and fast in the center of the chest and squeeze 120 times per minute at a depth of at least 2 inches,” said the merchant, beat and chorus on the Bee Gees hit. I added that I remember. “Stay in’Alive” helps you know how fast a bystander pushes.

According to the merchant, one of the biggest guideline changes is to add recovery as the official “chain of survival” link.

This is a series of important actions, including calling 911, performing CPR, and using an automated external defibrillator (AED). This is a device that restores a normal heartbeat by sending an electric shock to the heart. The recovery phase consists of the need for treatment, monitoring, and rehabilitation of cardiac arrest survivors, including assessment of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.

“It’s a new focus on what we can do to support their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial needs after they have suffered cardiac arrest and after they have been discharged from the hospital,” the merchant said. .. “According to the latest research, it’s really important.”

Overall, the 2020 guideline update produces 491 recommendations for life support and resuscitation of adult, pediatric, and neonatal CPR. Other important new or updated recommendations include:

– Two new opioid emergency protocols should not delay the activation of the emergency response system and the administration of naloxone when appropriate by general rescuers and trained responders, and the heart caused by opioid overdose. It emphasizes providing immediate CPR for outages.

– A new way to increase bystander CPR and AED utilization using mobile phone technology. For example, an emergency dispatch system can use a phone app to alert voluntary bystanders of nearby events that require help.

– Encourage bystander training tailored to socio-economic, racial, and ethnic groups with low incidence of bystander CPR. Training also needs to address gender-related barriers to improve the CPR rate of female bystanders.

– New recommendations for pediatric CPR using one breath every 2-3 seconds, a total of 20-30 breaths per minute.

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