Why Learn CPR?
When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately getting CPR from someone nearby. Almost 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.
What is Cardiac Arrest?
Cardiac arrest is the sudden, abrupt loss of heart function. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating.
It’s not the same as a heart attack. A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest.
Sudden death (also called sudden cardiac death) occurs within minutes after symptoms appear.
What causes cardiac arrest?
The most common reason for patients to die suddenly from cardiac arrest is heart disease.
Other factors besides heart disease and heart attack can cause cardiac arrest, they include respiratory arrest, electrocution, drowning, choking and trauma.
Cardiac arrest can also occur without any known cause.
Can cardiac arrest be reversed?
Cardiac arrest can be reversed if it’s treated within a few minutes with an electric shock to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat and high quality CPR. This process is called defibrillation.
For every passing minute without CPR and defibrillation, the victim’s chances of survival decreases by 10% per minute.(E.g. if nothing is done to the victim in 5minutes after the incident, the chances of survival are already less than 50%)
Few attempts at resuscitation succeed after 10 minutes. Thefore it is crucial for the first responder to the incident to have knowledge of good quality CPR and how to use an AED.
What can be done to increase the survival rate?
Early CPR and rapid defibrillation combined with early advanced care can result in high long-term survival rates for witnessed cardiac arrest.
If bystander CPR was initiated more consistently and if AEDs were more widely available, this would lead to an increase in survival from cardiac arrests.
Be the Difference for Someone You Love
If you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love: a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend. 70 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes. Unfortunately, only about 46% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate help that they need before professional help arrives.
Music Can Help Save Lives
During CPR, you should push on the chest at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. The beat of “Stayin’ Alive” is a perfect match for this.