Extreme heat may increase incidents of cardiac arrest, and an average of 33 drownings occur in the U.S. each day, one-third of which are fatal. Each year, more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA] occur in the United States, and fewer than half of these people receive the immediate help that they need before professional help arrives. Knowing cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR could be the key to saving someone from cardiac arrest or drowning.  CPR, especially if performed immediately, could double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.

 The American Heart Association (AHA), the world’s leading voluntary organization dedicated to building healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is working to increase the number of bystanders who use CPR in an emergency.

A simple one-minute video shows you what you need to know to perform Hands Only CPR. In 2009, the AHA launched a nationwide Hands-Only CPR campaign to raise awareness about this life-saving skill. Since 2012, over 10.5 million people have been trained in Hands-Only CPR via events, training kiosks and video education with the support of Anthem Foundation.

To be ready for a safe summer, the AHA recommends the following:

Learn CPR. For drowning, the AHA recommends rescue breaths along with compressions.

Remember Life Jackets. Half of all boating deaths could be prevented with their use.

Learn to Swim. Drowning is the second-leading cause of death in children between ages 1 and 4.

Family Safety Plan. It’s important for everyone in the family to be trained in CPR.

Secure the Pool. Install fencing with self-closing gates at least 4 feet high to separate the pool from house and yard.

Teach Safety. Talk about risky behavior such as diving or swimming in unfamiliar water, and alcohol or drug use while in or near water.

Clear Out Pool Toys. Make sure children aren’t tempted to play unsupervised.

For additional tips, click here.

Using data from the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, a network of regional clinical centers in the United States and Canada studying out-of-hospital treatments of cardiac arrest and trauma, researchers analyzed 19,331 cardiac events in the home and in public.

They found:

• Overall, bystanders administered CPR in 37 percent of cardiac events in varied locations.
• 35 percent of women and 36 percent of men received CPR in the home, showing no significant difference in the likelihood of one gender getting assistance over the other in this setting.
• In public settings, 45 percent of men got assistance compared to 39 percent of women.
• Men were 1.23 times more likely to receive bystander CPR in public settings, and they had 23 percent increased odds of survival compared to women.

“CPR involves pushing on the chest so that could make people less certain whether they can or should do CPR in public on women,” said Audrey Blewer, M.P.H., the study’s first author and assistant director for educational programs at the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

These findings identify a gap in bystander CPR delivery that can help improve future messaging and training to lay responders, health care providers and dispatchers.

“We’re only beginning to understand how to deliver CPR in public, although it’s been around for 50 years,” said Benjamin Abella, M.D., M.Phil., the study’s senior author and director of Penn’s Center for Resuscitation Science. “Our work highlights the fact that there’s still so much to learn about who learns CPR, who delivers CPR and how best to train people to respond to emergencies.”

The American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health funded the study.

According to the American Heart Association, over 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of the hospital each year. CPR, especially if administered immediately after cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. About 90 percent of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die.

Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit http://www.heart.org/ or call any of our offices around the country.

Courtesy of American Heart Association News.

The team of emergency medicine specialists reviewed educational videos from the last three years accessed via YouTube when the search terms “CPR”, “cardiopulmonary resuscitation”, “BLS” and “basic life support” were entered. A total of 209 videos were eventually analyzed. Only 11.5% of the analyzed videos were found to be completely compatible with 2010 CPR guidelines.

Of the many thousands of videos produced by these search results, most were excluded for a variety of reasons, including being irrelevant, being recorded in languages other than English, and being accompanied by advertisements.

A release from the publisher quotes Associate Professor Paul Middleton, Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and Chair of the Australian Resuscitation Council NSW, as saying, “Although well-designed videos can create awareness and be useful as tools in training, they can never replace hands-on instruction from a properly qualified health practitioner. People wanting to learn CPR and BLS skills should seek out a properly accredited training course.”

Associate Professor Paul Middleton indicated that a few videos were available via YouTube which provided generally competent educational advice on how to perform CPR and basic life support, but finding them is not easy and very few could genuinely be regarded as perfect in teaching basic life support and CPR.