The new CPR
Posted on April 1st, 2008 – 11:29 AMBy Josephine Marcotty
My co-health reporter, Maura Lerner, was reminded this morning of an old friend who’s been hibernating under her desk for months. It started with the news that the American Heart Association is changing it’s advice for would-be heroes in medical emergencies. Here’s what she has to say:
MiniAnne has lived under my desk ever since I wrote a story on ninth graders learning CPR. She’s a partial mannequin who’s part of a CPR kit designed by the American Heart Association. Today, I pulled her out again to remind myself how to save a life.
Now the rules are changing - the heart association announced Monday that it’s OK to stop the “breath of life” and just keep pressing the middle of the chest to help someone in cardiac arrest.
Why change? Basically, because most bystanders aren’t all that good at CPR, and this makes it easier, says Janet Steinkamp of the Central Minnesota Heart Center in St. Cloud. She oversees a program called Take Heart America that has trained nearly 9,000 people in CPR in the last 18 months.
Even if they’ve had CPR training, bystanders often panic in an emergency. They forget what they’ve learned, she said. As a rule, they don’t do the breathing part very well. But researchers have found that chest compressions alone can still save lives, because it keeps the blood flowing to vital organs.
So what should you do? Put one hand on top of the other in the middle of the victim’s chest, between the nipples. And push 100 times a minute. The American Heart Association has a video with another MiniAnne that demonstrates the chest compression technique on its web site.
Chest compressions are hard to keep up for more than two minutes, Steinkamp said, “because it’s so exhausting.” If you can, trade off with someone else. If not, do your best. “Anything’s better than nothing,” she said. That’s “the mantra of CPR. Try, at least try.”
MiniAnne couldn’t have said it better herself.
4 Responses to "The new CPR"
This was great article but you should really encourege star tribuine to make a print friendly tab I want to print out your article not a bunch of spams!
I’m just curious. I just received my CPR, and First aid qualifications and now things are changed… so are my cards still valid?
I’m not sure, but my sense is that formal CPR training won’t change. Janet Steinkamp, who runs the Take Heart America project in St. Cloud, said her group will continue teaching CPR the old fashioned way, breathing techniques and all.
“The American Heart Association is not saying not to do breaths. They’re just simply saying its more optional,” Steinkamp told me. She said that the breathing techniques are still important to deliver oxygen to the brain, and that’s still the ideal. The new guidelines merely say that it’s optional, but the chest compressions are essential.
In your “on your health ROUNDUP” , PAGE A6 OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, you discuss a new drug, cordaptive, which eliminates the flushing side effects of Niacin.
It never ceases to amaze me how little is known, both in the medical profession and the among pharmacists, of “flush free” Niacin. When I’ve asked pharmacists about it, they give me the look of a “deer in the headlights” and refer me to “time release” Niacin; it’s not the same thing!!
Flush free Niacin contains “inositol hexanicotinate”; I’ve not found a pharmacist who can explain why that makes a difference in suppressing flushing.
‘ve been taking flush free Niacin (1500 mg) for nearly 5 years, and together with healthy diet(fruit, vegetables, have lowered my cholesterol from 263 to 191. Even my doctor has said I’ve made a believer out of him.
I wish when you report on things like this, your reporters would be a little more thorough and get the WHOLE story.
