Everyone should learn about the basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills. Learning about the skills is important to assist a person facing a life-threatening situation. CPR involves pushing down the person’s chest and breathing into the mouth. The lifesaving skill is performed to help a person whose heart has stopped beating.

Keep in mind that CPR should not be performed on every heart attack victim. The emergency technique should be performed in specific cases only. Here, we will reveal the cases when CPR should be performed on a heart attack victim.

When Should CPR be Performed?

A lot of people think that CPR should be performed immediately when a person suffers from a heart attack. This is not the case. You should perform CPR only when a person shows no sign of life. Before performing the emergency technique, you should first check whether the person is:

  • unresponsive
  • unconscious
  • not breathing normally

CPR should be performed only if the above conditions are true. Don’t wait to take a pulse. If the person does not show any sign of life, you should perform the emergency technique without any delay.

CPR can Save Help Save Lives

CPR proves invaluable in saving lives of individuals. The survival chances of a heart attack victim increase if the person receives immediate medical help. In case no CPR is performed within three to four minutes after a heart attack, a heart attack victim can become brain dead.

When a person suffers from a heart attack, there is usually enough oxygen available in the body that can allow a person to survive for minutes. Performing CPR allows oxygen to be circulated to the vital parts of the body. This ensures that the brain and other vital organs are not damaged.

Apart from CPR, an automated external defibrillator (AED) device is also sometimes used if the person is not breathing. The machine delivers an electric shock to a person who has suffered from a cardiac arrest.

You can learn how to use AED by taking a CPR class. Previously, AED devices could only be used by a trained medical technician. However, modern devices today are easy to use that contain easy-to-understand instructions for operation.

Take-away

You should perform CPR only if a person is not breathing. Learning about CPR is important as you will be able to save the lives of heart attack victims. Both adult and children can benefit from learning about the life-saving skill.

Many people think that learning about CPR will require enrolling in a classroom based course. The fact is that you can learn about the life-saving skill by enrolling in an online CPR certification course. This will allow you to take the course without sacrificing time from your busy work schedule.