Mouth to mouth is a doctors' term. What is CPR?

adolan

Cardio pulmonary resuscitation Mar 22 07, 11:21 AM

angryllama

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a first aid procedure which is used prior to emergency services arriving on the scene. It involves chest presses and mouth to mouth to oxygenize the blood and keep the patient alive. Mar 22 07, 11:21 AM

skysmom65

Definition: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly called CPR, combines rescue breathing (one person breathing into another person) and chest compression in a lifesaving procedure performed when a person has stopped breathing or a person's heart has stopped beating. Purpose: When performed quickly enough, CPR can save lives in such emergencies as loss of consciousness, heart attacks or heart "arrests," electric shock, drowning, excessive bleeding, drug overdose, and other conditions in which there is no breathing or no pulse. The purpose of CPR is to bring oxygen to the victim's lungs and to keep blood circulating so oxygen gets to every part of the body. When a person is deprived of oxygen, permanent brain damage can begin in as little as four minutes and death can follow only minutes later. Description: There are three physical symptoms that indicate a need for CPR to be performed immediately and for emergency medical support to be called: unconsciousness, not breathing, and no pulse detected. http://www.answers.com/topic/cardiopulmonary-resuscitation Mar 22 07, 12:04 PM

elburcher

Mouth to Mouth, also known as Rescue Breathing, is performed when a patient stops breathing but their heart is still beating. CPR is performed when a patients heart has stopped. Mar 22 07, 12:05 PM

Baloo55th

That paragraph about three symptoms is misleading. All three need to be present, not any one of the three as it could be read. I don't know the American protocols, but in current British and European protocols the pulse is not checked any more. The reason for this is that it can be hard to find, and even when the correct spot is being felt a weak pulse may not be detected. Current procedure is to look for 'signs of life'. basically this means that if there's blueing of the lips or other parts that should not be blue CPR is called for. Another test is by pressing the fingernail of the patient with one of yours. The nail should whiten, then turn pink again. If it doesn't, the blood flow isn't enough to sustain life, and CPR is needed. Except in cases of drowning and electrical shock, you won't find a patient recovering under CPR. The idea is maintaining the blood flow to the brain rather than reviving the patient. In cases of drowning, the removal of water from the lungs can bring about revival (watch out - they always throw up!), and where the heart was stopped by electric shock it can be restarted by CPR. Heart attack - that one might be revived by defibrillation. If that doesn't work, there's not much chance. BUT only a doctor can certify death, so you keep on working until the doctor's seen the case, or if using an AED machine rather than the paramedics machinery, you go on till the machine tells you not to continue, and then you carry on the CPR just in case. If you need these procedures quickly and you know there are trained people nearby, just yell 'REESUSS!'. I've done that (before I got trained in first aid and AED) and they come running. Performing CPR on a person who actually does have a weak circulation present won't usually do any harm. However, rib cracking is not uncommon in CPR and in countries where lawyers appear out of the woodwork you don't want to do this if not really necessary. Mar 22 07, 12:30 PM