Always good to do. Medicos I talk to say two things: you have to press a LOT harder than people think, and when they do it, cracked ribs are normal. And, its really sad, but it just doesnt work sometimes. A lot of times.<p>Do it, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. But do it.<p>Helen Clark, ex PM of NZ tried to save her mountain guide friend up a hill, kept going for an hour or more. When I measure up prime ministers, this is the standard I look for.
Survival rates when CPR is applied outsite a hospital is below 10%. About 1/3 of those 10% that survive will have permanent neurological disability and about 50% whish they died instead of having CPR.<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/29/1177914622/a-natural-death-may-be-preferable-for-many-than-enduring-cpr" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/29/1177914...</a>
Here is the non-lite version of the article: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/the-dose-cardiac-arrest-1.7136483" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/the-dose-cardiac-arrest-1...</a>
From <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39850383#39863280">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39850383#39863280</a> :<p>> <i>Basic life support (BLS) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_life_support" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_life_support</a> :</i><p>>> <i>DRSABCD: Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation</i><p>> <i>"Drs. ABCD"</i><p>From "Defibrillation devices save lives using 1k times less electricity" (2024) <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42061556">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42061556</a> :<p>> <i>"New defib placement increases chance of surviving heart attack by 264%"</i> (2024) <a href="https://newatlas.com/medical/defibrillator-pads-anterior-posterior-cardiac-arrest-survival/" rel="nofollow">https://newatlas.com/medical/defibrillator-pads-anterior-pos...</a> :<p>>> <i>Placing defibrillator pads on the chest and back, rather than the usual method of putting two on the chest, increases the odds of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by more than two-and-a-half times, according to a new study.</i><p>From SBA.gov blog > "Review Your Workplace Safety Policies" (2019) <a href="https://www.sba.gov/blog/review-your-workplace-safety-policies" rel="nofollow">https://www.sba.gov/blog/review-your-workplace-safety-polici...</a> :<p>> <i>Also, consider offering training for CPR to employees. Be sure to have an automatic external defibrillator (AED) on site and have employees trained on how to use it. The American Red Cross and various other organizations offer free or low-cost training.</i>
Also learn the Heimlich maneuver if you can. It’s easy to learn and you don’t need to be certified. Never thought I’d need it but I saved my brother’s life many years ago. An outlier for sure given about 6,000 people in the US die from choking each year, but still.<p><a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21675-heimlich-maneuver" rel="nofollow">https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21675-heiml...</a>
A few years back while recertifying, I got interested in what the world record was for the longest successful CPR recovery.
Found this incident that lasted 4 hours, involving someone who'd gone into hypothermia some hours before:<p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/christine-tink-newman-s-medical-miracle-revived-from-near-death-1.2591379" rel="nofollow">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/christine-tin...</a><p>In this case, her lowered body temperature contributed to surviving long enough for rescue.<p>CPR doesn't have the highest success rate, but it's worth knowing how to do as it can make a life or death difference.
This article fails to mention that if their lungs aren't breathing, you could also do two rescue breaths for every thirty compressions. This will also give you a break from doing all those compressions. Obviously call emergency services before you do anything at all.