How to Save a Life
Process Essay
2/22/13
The “How To” Save a Life Essay
There are certain skills you should have in your tool belt, but you never want to use. In the emergency of a Cardiac arrest, quality and effective applications of the lifesaving techniques of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) are crucial to saving the victim’s life. Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function, not to be confused with a heart attack. A heart attack is a blockage that stops blood flow to the heart, but do not necessarily result in death of the victim. On average about 295,000 Cardiac arrest incidents occur in the United States, and can happen to anyone on a dimes notice ("American Heart Association"). This essay is designed to develop an understanding on how CPR is performed. However, it is very important to be properly trained by an accredited course before performing CPR on a real victim. CPR can be taught in a cheap, easy three hour long course. As a benefit the knowledge can be life saving. Before beginning the act of CPR, you must first assure the scene is safe. A commonly used phrase in the medical field is, “What use are you to a patient if you become another?”. If there is any danger presented to you ie; fire, falling power lines, violence, do not attempt to help the patient. If the scene does prevent to be safe, your next step is to recognize it is Cardiac arrest and to alert the Emergency Response System, other wise known as 911. Now, lets not get to far ahead of ourselves. You could be thinking, “how the heck am I supposed to know what Cardiac arrest looks like?” What some signs of Cardiac arrest? There are three noticeable signs.
Unresponsiveness. If the victim does not become conscious or alert to verbal stimulus or forceful shaking of shoulders.
Not breathing. If the victim does not display signs of proper respiration including chest raise, or breath sounds.
Pulseless. In the American Heart Associate they have changed the CPR guidelines to remove checking for
2/22/13
The “How To” Save a Life Essay
There are certain skills you should have in your tool belt, but you never want to use. In the emergency of a Cardiac arrest, quality and effective applications of the lifesaving techniques of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) are crucial to saving the victim’s life. Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function, not to be confused with a heart attack. A heart attack is a blockage that stops blood flow to the heart, but do not necessarily result in death of the victim. On average about 295,000 Cardiac arrest incidents occur in the United States, and can happen to anyone on a dimes notice ("American Heart Association"). This essay is designed to develop an understanding on how CPR is performed. However, it is very important to be properly trained by an accredited course before performing CPR on a real victim. CPR can be taught in a cheap, easy three hour long course. As a benefit the knowledge can be life saving. Before beginning the act of CPR, you must first assure the scene is safe. A commonly used phrase in the medical field is, “What use are you to a patient if you become another?”. If there is any danger presented to you ie; fire, falling power lines, violence, do not attempt to help the patient. If the scene does prevent to be safe, your next step is to recognize it is Cardiac arrest and to alert the Emergency Response System, other wise known as 911. Now, lets not get to far ahead of ourselves. You could be thinking, “how the heck am I supposed to know what Cardiac arrest looks like?” What some signs of Cardiac arrest? There are three noticeable signs.
Unresponsiveness. If the victim does not become conscious or alert to verbal stimulus or forceful shaking of shoulders.
Not breathing. If the victim does not display signs of proper respiration including chest raise, or breath sounds.
Pulseless. In the American Heart Associate they have changed the CPR guidelines to remove checking for
Bibliography: "About Cardiac Arrest." American Heart Association. N.p., 12 Jul 2011. Web. 22 Feb 2013. . ("American Heart Association")