Hands Only CPR Training

In the UK someone suffers a heart attack every 3 minutes - most towns and villages in the UK now have defibrillator in public places (ours is located on our local Funeral directors - not entirely certain its the most appropriate place but who am I to question...)

A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest. This high energy shock is called defibrillation, and it's an essential lifesaving step in the chain of survival.

If you witness a cardiac arrest, it’s crucial to call 999 and start CPR immediately.

But do you know how to give CPR? And do you know that the timing of the compressions is an essential part of CPR? 

When an adult whose heart has stopped beating, trained first responders are told to administer 2-inch sternum compressions (between the nipples) at a rate of around 100 beats per minute (bpm). That’s a little less than twice a second, and can be hard to approximate.

Thank goodness for pop music right!

A classic example of a song which has 100bpm is “Staying Alive” by the BeeGees (and has its obvious connotations for the task at hand)

Here we see the UK televised advert with Vinnie Jones demonstrating CPR – The BeeGees hit has a rhythm of 103 beats per minute.

But ditto to Gloria Gaynor’s anthem, “I will Survive”, this too has the 100bmp benchmark, and the Backstreet Boys “Quit Playing Games with My Heart.”

But my personal favourite and the one I would want used if the compression were need to “kick start” my heart - Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” which may be fitting given the abysmal success rates of CPR — which is roughly 8%, even when backup help is called immediately.

bpm120 for Another One Bites the Dust

(Patients who have CPR performed on them are likely to experience other painful injuries, too, like crushed or ruptured organs. Admittedly, a small price to pay for a saved life.) That said, performing CPR more than doubles (paywall) the survival rate of patients who go into cardiac arrest.

So, remember to perform hands only CPR, follow these simple steps:

·         Step 1: Shake and shout

·         Step 2: Check for normal breathing

·         Step 3: Call 999

·         Step 4: Give 30 chest compressions

·         Step 5: Give two rescue breaths

·         Step 6: Repeat until an ambulance arrives

Remember – even if you haven't been trained in CPR with rescue breathing, you can still use hands-only CPR.