American Heart Association Endorses Hands-only CPR for Adults

Chest compressions alone, or hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), can save lives and can be used to help an adult who suddenly collapses, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement. The statement, from the association's Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee, is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Hands-only CPR consists of hard, rapid chest compressions in the middle of the victim's chest, until emergency medical responders arrive. The method can be used by people not trained in conventional CPR or those who are unsure of their ability to give the combination of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breathing it requires. I would imagine that hands-only CPR is also attractive to people who worry about catching a communicable disease from a stranger who collapses in their vicinity.

The new recommendation is an update to the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and ECC, which puts hands-only CPR on par with conventional CPR when used for an adult who has suddenly collapsed. The change was supported by evidence published from three separate, large-scale studies in 2007, each describing the outcomes of hundreds of instances of bystanders performing CPR on cardiac arrest victims.

Perhaps the new guideline will encourage people who previously would've been too scared to attempt CPR to provide life-saving compressions in an emergency situation. The result could be more patients making it into your ERs with hope for revival.