Last Updated Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:01:27 EST
CBC News
http://www.***.com/

Bystanders who perform CPR should focus on chest compressions, not
mouth-to-mouth breathing, new international guidelines say.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a first aid procedure for an
unconscious person whose breathing and/or pulse have stopped.

Dr. Michael Shuster of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
demonstrates the new CPR technique.

The technique aims to protect the heart and brain until the heart can
resume pumping in a normal rhythm, usually after receiving an electric
shock.

Instead of two breaths for every 15 chest pumps, the new guidelines
call for two breaths for every 30 chest compressions. For children, the
ratio changes from one breath for every five chest compressions to two
breaths for every 30 compressions.

"These changes are designed to make CPR more effective and easier to
remember and perform," said Dr. Michael Schuster of the Heart and
Stroke Foundation of Canada, who helped review scientific evidence used
to prepare the new guidelines.

Moving {*filter*}, oxygen

It's hoped the changes will boost the number of people who are likely
to perform the life-saving technique, which can now be taught in about
20 minutes instead of four hours. Studies showed {*filter*} circulation
dropped when compressions were interrupted, and time was being wasted
after each interruption, the foundation said.

Effective compressions create more {*filter*} flow through the heart to the
rest of the body to keep someone alive and buying time until rescuers
try defibrillation. The foundation also encourages greater access to
defibrillators in public places such as airports, {*filter*}s and hockey
arenas.

The guidelines recommend rescuers minimize interruptions and "push hard
and push fast" when giving chest compressions.

---snip---

The new recommendations for lay rescuers, emergency medical personnel
and other emergency health-care providers appear in Monday's online
issue of the journal Circulation.