Compression-only CPR is better than nothing
Compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), without ‘mouth-to-mouth’, by untrained bystanders is not a panacea for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest but is better than nothing, according to the chairman of the Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC), Professor Ian Jacobs.
Interest about the use of compression-only CPR (COCPR) followed a new study in JAMA that found bystander COCPR was associated with increased survival compared with bystander traditional CPR and no CPR in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
Professor Jacobs said the number of cardiac arrests due to trauma, drug overdose, asphyxia or drowning was increasing and responded better to traditional CPR with ventilation.
However, he said the fact that two-thirds of people who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest still received no resuscitation was “a big take-home message”.
Figures from the National Heart Foundation (NHF) show that, in Australia, up to 30,000 adults have cardiac arrests each year but 70% to 80% do not receive CPR.
Professor Jacobs said the ARC, Australia’s peak body responsible for developing resuscitation guidelines, will push for a campaign to promote COCPR by untrained bystanders who witness an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
He said an educational program was “absolutely” needed to encourage people to do CPR without mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.
Current ARC guidelines recommend that where a rescuer is untrained or unwilling to perform traditional CPR, they should use uninterrupted chest compressions.
Professor Jacobs said COCPR was most effective if applied early in cardiac arrest due to an underlying cardiac cause.
The ARC, Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), National Heart Foundation (NHF), St John Ambulance, Australian Red Cross and other groups unanimously agree that any attempt at resuscitation is better than none.
