CPR no longer mouth to mouth

LITTLE ROCK — The American Heart Association estimates that 70 percent of Americans do not know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

In recent years, the association has simplified the procedure to two steps. Here’s its current advice for what to do if you see an adult suddenly collapse who is not breathing normally:

1. Call 911

2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest at the rate of 100 pumps per minute (like the beat of the Bee Gees’ song “Stayin’ Alive”).

Begin CPR as soon as possible after the sudden cardiac arrest because the risk of permanent damage to the victim is greater after four minutes. Continue CPR until someone with an automated external defibrillator or an emergency worker arrives.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Americans, and more than 1,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur every day in the nation, says Dr. Sreenivas Gudimetla, president of the board of directors for the Tarrant County (Texas) American Heart Association. More than 80 percent of those cardiac arrests happen at home, so the most likely person you would help with CPR is someone you love, says Gudimetla, who is also a cardiologist at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital.

Kathryn Bashaw, communications director for the American Heart Association in Tarrant County, says the association is asking Texas legislators to consider CPR training as a high school graduation requirement.

Only 5.2 percent of people who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive, according to statistics provided by the association. That number increases to 8 percent when mouth-to-mouth CPR is given. But when a person administers hands-only CPR, the victim’s chance of survival doubles, Gudimetla says.

Hands-only CPR with just chest compressions is as effective as CPR with breaths in helping adult victims of cardiac arrest, association research has found. And the two-step method is easier to remember than the traditional method of chest compressions combined with breathing.

People hesitant to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to strangers are more likely to administer just chest compressions. Gudimetla says our breaths contain carbon dioxide when we exhale, which is not as beneficial to the victim as chest compressions. When an adult in sudden cardiac arrest collapses, his lungs and blood still contain oxygen. Chest compressions help to pump this oxygenated blood to the brain and the heart.

So the best thing a bystander can do for a cardiac arrest victim is to give high-quality chest compressions with minimal interruptions until medical services personnel arrive.

Here are ways to learn:

Watch a video: A one-minute video on hands-only CPR is at handsonlycpr.org.

Order a kit: The CPR Anytime Kit uses the American Heart Association’s “practice while watching” technique. Users watch an instructional DVD while practicing CPR on a small mannequin. This 22-minute training kit can be used in the home and shared with family and friends. The kits costs $34.95 plus shipping at cpranytime.org.

Download an app: The site handsonlycpr.org includes instructions for downloading the American Heart Association’s free application for your smart phone.

Take a class: Find an instructor-led class by date or location at heart.org/cpr.

Play interactive games: The American Heart Association has a Be the Beat website (bethebeat.heart.org) with games, videos and a playlist of songs to help teens learn how to be a lifesaver.