C-P-Are you sure you know how to do that?

By Cameron Ross

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is probably the most 
commonly trained form of medical attention in the world... if you don't
 count dialing 911.

For decades, CPR has been the best way to revive a person who is not
 breathing without using any equipment or medicine. It is part of
 health education and/or drivers training in nearly every state and
 lifeguards use it frequently.

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT's)
 also use CPR, albeit with advanced air pumps and tubes. 

One of the primary reasons CPR has been such a valuable procedure is
 because knowledge of the human body hit a plateau a while ago and the only
 superior procedures require medicine or advanced equipment.

The
 American Health Association 2000 Guidelines for CPR and Emergency 
Cardiovascular Care were the most recent until this month. The 2005 Guidelines, yes that's correct- 2005 Guidelines released in
2007, have revamped the CPR method. With all the medical advances and
 advantages of modern science it's not surprising to see new treatments
 for diseases or new operations.

It is great that doctors have made advances in the method of CPR but seriously, why
 did this just occur? Were too many people not responding to the old CPR method? How did they discover a better method?

The heart pumps blood throughout the body so when it stops from a heart attack or perhaps some other form of cardiac arrest the body gets no blood, no oxygen, etc.

CPR is key in resuscitation because compressions (pumping your weight into your hands and then into the chest of a victim) act as a manual form of blood pumping.

The 2000 CPR Guidelines advise to administer everyone’s favorite dilemma: Mouth to mouth and then deliver 15 chest compressions.

The revised CPR circa 2005 orders 30 compressions for every two breaths. By emphasizing compressions more the blood flow becomes stronger and maintains a more constant pace than the old method.

Surveys conducted by the American Health Association in 2007 showed that almost 50 per cent of the people certified to perform CPR do it incorrectly. The main issue was not compressing the chest fully and letting it recoil between compressions. If it doesn’t recoil fully then there’s less blood returning to the heart.

One may worry after reading up on this topic because if nearly half the people who are professionally trained and certified to perform CPR and take lives into their hands in times of crisis then you have a one in two chance of being saved by CPR…

I think the CPR courses should be more thorough in the training and regulations of testing. What good is it to train people to save a life if only half of them do it correctly? What if only half of the firefighters completed their training? The analogy is exaggerated I know but it’s the principal of passing individuals who don’t deserve it yet and trusting them.

Wait, this freak show isn’t finished yet! CPR also now requires 100 compressions per minute. If you attempt compressions on a practice dummy you will feel that you need to put a lot of weight into the thrusts to fully compress the chest and then wait longer than you want for the chest to recoil.

In order to reach 100 compressions per minute you’ll need to really work your arms and shoulders rapidly while also staying mentally focused to make sure you let the chest recoil.

The issue that will be most significantly noticed is that for all the training and money that contributed to certified CPR card carriers, only half of them know what they’re actually doing. The new trainees, or re-trainees for those who want to correct their flawed medical knowledge, will have to cover a lot of ground for the sake of anyone who’