“Hands-Only” Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

by Laure Orgon, MA, RN

Many of you may have heard recent reports in the news stating the American Heart Association (AHA) recently released information indicating that hands-only CPR works as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Children’s has received a few questions regarding this for our Basic Life Support classes. After reviewing the information and consulting with our AHA-certified instructors, Children’s is still recommending the standard BLS procedure for children in or out of a hospital setting.

The AHA recommends the hands-only CPR for adults who have sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting. Pediatric arrests are more likely to be respiratory-related. The AHA hopes that by recommending the hands-only CPR to adults, more bystanders will be willing to help when an adult collapses, because they will not have to worry about the exposure that can occur during mouth-to-mouth breathing. The new recommendation will also allow bystanders to concentrate on giving the compressions at a steady rate and depth until emergency medical service and/or an automated external defibrillator (AED) arrives on the scene, thus increasing the collapsed adult’s chances for survival.

Basic Life Support classes offered at Children’s will continue to instruct attendees in the standard basic life support protocol and will also discuss the new hands-only option and its uses in the general public.

If you would like more information on this topic, refer to the web site below, which contains an article by the AHA.

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.189380

Laure Orgon, MA, RN, is a clinical education specialist in the Center for Professional Development and Practice at Children’s.