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Article: Thumbs up for hands-only CPR
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- April 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (c) 2008 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. (Hide copyright information)
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In a major change aimed at getting more bystanders to do CPR, the American Heart Association now says it's OK to skip the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when performing CPR on adults having a heart attack.
New guidelines issued by the organization Monday encourage non-medical professionals to use hands-only CPR -- doing hard, fast chest compressions -- instead of a combination of chest thrusts and rescue breathing, as long recommended.
By making CPR less complicated, the aim is to get more people to try doing it in an emergency.
"Many times, people nearby don't help because they're afraid that they will hurt the victim and aren't confident in what they're doing," said Dr. Michael Sayre, lead ...