When faced with an emergency such as cardiac arrest, mouth-to-mouth CPR may be the only remaining option for saving the life of a victim. The acronym mouth-to-mouth CPR is a fairly clear description of what happens when a victim is rendered helpless due to lack of oxygen. Mouth-to-mouth CPR is often called CPR because it is doing mouth-to-mouth. It is essentially an advanced first aid technique that can save a life.
Mouth-To Mouth CPR
One of the most important things to remember about mouth-to-mouth CPR is that it is essentially an imitation of what happens during a cardiac arrest. Essentially, mouth-to-mouth CPR is the act of stimulating or pumping respiration where a rescuer gently presses on the victim’s mouth and blows air into the patient’s lungs.
The goal of this type of CPR is to keep blood flowing toward the heart, so more oxygen can reach the brain go to site. Unlike traditional CPR where the mouth is the source of oxygen, the mouth-to-mouth cpr technique requires the rescue person to breathe in the air as well. This additional effort makes mouth-to-mouth CPR much more difficult.
The key difference between mouth-to-mouth CPR and traditional CPR comes from the manner in which the air is supplied. During traditional CPR, rescue breaths are provided either through the mouth or nose. During the case of a drug overdose, mouth-to-mouth cpr is impossible. Therefore, the provider will have to improvise by making “compressions” using the rescue breaths to bring the victim to normal breathing rhythm.
There are basically two types of mouth-to-mouth CPR, hands-only and chest compressions. Hands-only CPR is strictly voluntary and not a necessity for all cases. In the hands-only CPR, the victim is asked to provide chest compressions. The chest compressions will slow the flow of blood to the brain and, in turn, will cause unconsciousness and temporary death. This type of CPR can be quite effective in overcoming refractory patients, but should not be used with severely-illustrated victims.
Chest compressions are also useful when victims do not respond to mouth-to-mouth cpr, or if the victim is comatose. For this type of CPR, the adult (or child) performs the compression. If a child is present, one person on each side of the child will perform the compression. Compression gloves are also available for this purpose. Hand-only CPR is not as effective as chest compression CPR because of the lack of a second person to perform the compression.
Defining a “defensive CPR” maneuver is very important when administering this type of first responder technique. There are several other types of self CPR techniques that can be rendered in this manner, and it is important for a victim to learn all of them so they are prepared for all possible events. Because of the critical nature of performing these mouth-to-mouth CPR maneuvers on victims with cardiac arrests, it is absolutely necessary for everyone to take a refresher course in the handling of CPR in case of an emergency.
