The American Heart Association issued a video today explaining the updates they’ve made to the procedures for CPR.
The AHA sets the official procedures for CPR used widely by the government, health organizations, and doctors.
The main change made is to the order of the steps of CPR. The system used to be: Airway (tilting back the head and opening the air path), Breathing (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation), then Compressions (to the heart) — ABC for short. Now Compressions are considered first priority, so the steps are Compressions, Airway, Breathing — or CAB for short (though that’s not nearly as convenient to remember).
The real gem of the video, though, is the AHA observation that the perfect speed at which to give heart compressions is the tempo of “Stayin’ Alive” by The Bee Gees. This is both ridiculous and quite helpful.
Watch the video from the AHA above.
