Roughly 54% of Americans know CPR. That is shockingly low.
So, for those who don’t know, only half know, need a reminder or think they know but don’t, let ya boy educate you.
Pre-Physical CPR: Remember DRS (Doctors!)!
D: Danger. Is there danger nearby? Oftentimes people go into cardiac arrest due to, say for example, touching an electric fence and getting electrocuted. Following on from that example, are they still attached to the electric fence? Is the patient still in danger? If they’re in danger, leave them and don’t do CPR. Still call an ambulance though.
R: Response. Shake em, shout at em, call their name, anything! If they respond with words, don’t do CPR. They’re probably just out of it.
S: Shout for help. You’ll ideally want as many people who can do CPR around as possible. ALSO, CALL AN AMBULANCE.
Physical CPR: Remember ABC.
A: Airway. Lay their head back and open their mouth. Make sure the airway is clear.
B: Breathing. If they aren’t breathing, they’re in danger. Lay your head down on its side near their cheek. Use your eyes to also look if their chest is moving up and down. While doing that, if you can’t hear/feel the breath after ten seconds, they aren’t breathing.
Please note there is also a thing called Agonal breathing. If they’re gasping like a fish out of water or not breathing properly, THEY ARE DYING. It’s a brain reflex, they aren’t actually getting any oxygen.
C: Chest Compressions. Start 'em. Do them until you either physically can’t or the ambulance arrives. This is why shouting for help is important. Compressions are very exhausting and if you’re not physically fit you’ll tire quickly and need to alternate.
Sometimes, if you’re really good and really lucky, the person may wake up. Often this is temporary. Still keep doing compressions. If they become verbal and tell you to, quote enquote ‘piss off, geroff me!’ There’s a good chance they’re alive now.
How To Do Compressions Properly:
Place the heel of the hand on the breast bone at the centre of the person’s chest. Place your other hand on top of your first hand and interlock your fingers.
Position yourself with your shoulders above your hands.
Using your body weight (not just your arms, trust me, if you just did your arms you’ll get very tired very fast,) press straight down by 5-6cm (2-2.5 inches) on their chest.
Keeping your hands on their chest, release the compression and allow the chest to return to its original position.
Repeat these compressions at a rate of 100-120 times in a minute until either: an ambulance, you get exhausted or you feel slightly tired and have a friend who can take over.
If all this is too complicated to remember, don’t worry. If you put your phone on speaker, the person on the other end will walk you through it in real time. If you can’t take away anything else from this, please take away this fact.
Q: Do I have to do mouth-to-mouth?
A: Nope! In fact, I’d advise against it. Mouth to mouth actually does little to help the patient and is arguably detrimental due to an exchange of germs. Just stick to chest compressions.
Q: Do I have to sing Nellie The Elephant?
A: Also nope! Any 100-120 BPM song is fine. There’ll be a list below.
Q: Am I pressing hard enough?
A: No. Unless you’re pressing 5-6cm or 2.5 inches down, you are not. It looks weird and wrong, but that’s because you’re literally acting as their heart for them. If you’re questioning if you’re pressing hard enough, you probably aren’t. If you think you are, push a little harder. It’s possible and very easy to not push hard enough, but there’s no such thing as too hard. Push them so hard they make a hole on the floor if you have to.
Q: Oh no! I heard a rib crack!
A: That’s good! Oftentimes, the ribs have to break in order for you to actually have any hope of successful CPR. Don’t stop because you heard a rib crack. There’s no such thing as pushing too hard. There is such a thing as not pushing enough. It’s better to have a friend alive with a few broken bones than your friend dead.
Q: The patient is a woman and I’m scared that if she wakes up she’ll sue me for touching her breasts. Should I risk it and perform CPR anyway?
A: Don’t worry. You’re protected by the Good Samaritan Law. I’m not a lawyer, so if any one who knows the law could possibly fact check me on this personally, but the Good Samaritan Law states:
“The Good Samaritan Law offers legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or whom they believe to be, injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.”
So even if the patient does wake up and your vital readings were wrong, the law should be on your side.
If you think someone needs CPR, don’t question the legal trouble it’ll get you in later. Just do it.
Q: Don’t I have to check for a pulse?
A: You could, but breathing is much more reliable. Locating a pulse can take a while. (Sometimes people can only feel it in their wrists, some people only feel it in their neck. There’s no one guaranteed location. Everyone is different. Unless you know that person extremely well and know their best pulse spots fir some reason, (I’m not judging your friendship,) chances are it’ll take at least 30 seconds to locate a spot. This is especially hard when someone doesn’t have a pulse.) Breathing, on the other hand, is much more reliable and quicker to do, (10 seconds check, let’s say you were slow and took 2 seconds positioning, that’s 12 seconds max.) Time management is extremely important during CPR and every second counts. I understand most American places recommend checking for a pulse, but everywhere in the UK, (including NHS.gov and the British Resuscitation Council (used by all nurses and doctors as gospel, pretty much unheard if outside of professionals apparently?) My mum also said so.
Songs that are 100-120 BPM to sing instead of Nellie The Elephant: (Feel Free to Add!)
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (100bpm)
Tainted Love (Straight No Chaser) (100bpm)
Through The Fire And Flames (Dragonforce) (100bpm)
Breaking The Habit (Linkin Park) (100bpm)
This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race (Fall Out Boy) (100bpm)
Dancing Queen (Abba) (100bpm)
Hips Don’t Lie (Shakira) (100bpm)
Gives You Hell (All American Rejects) (100bpm)
Icicles (The Scary Jokes) (100bpm)
Rock Your Body (Justin Timberlake) (101bpm)
Steppin’ Out (Joe Jackson) (101bpm)
Welcome To Tally Hall (Tally Hall) (101bpm)
Cecilia (Simon and Garfunkle) (102bpm)
Semi Charmed Life (Third Eye Blind) (102bpm)
99 Luftballons (DDR) (102bpm)
Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees) (103bpm)
Stronger (Kanye West) (104bpm)
All Star (Smash Mouth) (104bpm)
Hard To Handle (The Black Crowes) (104bpm)
Rolling In The Deep (Adele) (105bpm)
Good Day (Tally Hall) (105bpm)
Are You Gonna Be My Girl (Jet) (105bpm)
Numb (Linkin Park) (107bpm)
Set Fire To The Rain (Adele) (108bpm)
Stronger (Britney Spears) (108bpm)
Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor) (109bpm)
Just The Way You Are (Bruno Mars) (109bpm)
Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani) (110bpm)
Another One Bites The Dust (Queen) (110bpm)
Till It’s Over (Tristam) (110bpm)
Grenade (Bruno Mars) (110bpm)
Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley) (113bpm)
Under Pressure (Queen and David Bowie) (113bpm)
Banana Man (Tally Hall) (113bpm)
Two Trucks (Lemon Demon) (114bpm)
Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars) (115bpm)
What Doesn’t Kill You (Kelly Clarkson) (116bpm)
Once In A Lifetime (Talking Heads) (117bpm)
Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen) (118bpm)
Don’t Stop Believing (Journey) (118bpm)
Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) (119bpm)
Just Dance (Lady Gaga) (119bpm)
Poker Face (Lady Gaga) (119bpm)
Teenage Dream (Katy Perry) (120bpm)
DJ’s Got Us Falling In Love Again (Usher) (120bpm)
Revenge (Captain Sparklez) (120bpm)
If you want to check your favourite song is one you can use but it’s not here, go onto the website tunebat.com and type in the title. It will tell you the BPM and other fun facts like what key it’s in.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/first-aid/cpr/
My Mum (Registered Band Six District Nurse (Going for Master’s Degree currently.)) (She read and fact checked this for me. Thanks, Mum!)
My own knowledge having this drilled into me from a young age. (From sources above, especially ‘My Mum.’ You can’t find that website anymore.)
