Basic Life Support (BLS) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a process in which laypeople who witness or first discover a victim of a heart attack, stroke, or choking can help save the patient’s life before medical help arrives. BLS CPR certification is training for a procedure in which the rescuer uses chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breathing to keep the collapsed patient’s bloodstream oxygenated and circulated. Heart attack victims who receive CPR within five minutes of collapsing have a higher chance of survival, according to studies supporting BLS CPR certification. CPR, on the other hand, is only used in about a third of the nearly 250,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests that occur each year in the United States. For single rescuers performing CPR on infants, children, or adults, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued guidelines for BLS CPR certification training, recommending a universal ratio of 30 compressions for every two breaths.
The sequence of events that rescuers learn in BLS CPR certification starts with recognizing the patient’s unresponsive state. If an adult is unresponsive, a rescuer should first ask another bystander to call 911 or call 911 himself if he is the only one present. He should also recover and prepare to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) if one is available. The rescuer then opens the patient’s mouth, checks for a clear airway, and determines whether or not the patient is still breathing. If there are no breathing sounds, the rescuer will give two breaths, then 30 chest compressions, before using the AED to shock the heart back into normal rhythm.
The life support sequence is changed for children and infants. The airway and breathing assessment comes first, followed by five cycles of breaths and chest compressions before alerting emergency services, according to current recommendations in BLS CPR certification courses. In most cases, a child’s loss of consciousness is caused by the child’s inability to breathe, rather than a heart attack. Before calling for an ambulance, BLS CPR may be all that is required to resuscitate the patient.
Even when BLS CPR is performed, studies by the American Heart Association reveal that it is frequently performed incorrectly. Compressions of the chest are often too tentative and slow. Rescuers take too many breaks from compressions, causing a drop in blood pressure and poor blood flow to the brain and vital organs. Over-inflation of the stomach and lungs can result in over-ventilation, which puts pressure on the heart and reduces its output. For these reasons, the American Heart Association (AHA) regularly sponsors BLS CPR certification and training sessions to educate laypeople on proper life support techniques.