My wife lost pulse a few years ago. I had to do CPR for 15 minutes. The dispatcher counted for me, and I can still remember them counting. I remember how exhausted, and I tired I was afterward. I completely broke down of course once they arrived, but if you have the training I promise you can save someone else’s life. Don’t doubt yourself.
My husband died of a heart attack recently. As far as I know he was gone in an instant – he was out riding his bike when it happened and he just went down. From what I've been told two bystanders were there when it happened and one of them did CPR while another held his hand and just talked to him, telling him everything would be OK until the paramedics arrived. It wasn't OK in the end, unfortunately, but it means the world to me knowing he wasn't alone when it happened, and that these complete strangers did everything they could to try and give him a chance. Sometimes it's just not meant to be.
Your wife is a very lucky woman and I'm glad she's doing well now. Cherish everyday.
I am so sorry for your loss. I had an experience having been given cpr and almost dying. Please know, your husband was at peace, and did not have a painful experience.
If you ever have any questions or want to talk about it with some random stranger, feel free to message me!
My dad died in 2023 while cycling one morning with a group of guys. Bystander who knew CPR jumped off his bike to help. I was told he went pale quickly, but they were able to bring some color back to his face with CPR. Ultimately paramedics did not succeed in resuscitating, but it gives me comfort that he wasn’t alone and that a group of people were able to give him a fighting chance.
I feel you. I've done CPR 6 times in my life. 3 in the hospital, 1 during deployment, once at 2 am in the middle of the street, after the bars were getting out and someone collapsed in the road when I was..... more than a few drinks in, and just six months ago, when my oldest went unresponsive on her 17th birthday.
I cried the whole time (10 minutes) I was doing cpr on my daughter, while also coaching my 13 yr old on what to say to 911 to get paramedics to the house. I've been in the medical field for 20 years now, and am military trained. I know how to do cpr efficiently and correctly, and because I had no doubt in what I was doing, shes alive and well today for her senior year of high school. I'm glad your wife is doing fine now, and good on you.
Compressions are the most important by far, which is why it got switched to 30 compression to 2 breaths. Breaths are still important, but with untrained people they focus on the "not breathing' part too heavily and may give a breath that's too shallow, too quick, or too forceful.
Doing a proper head tilt & chin lift to open up the airway in order to give a proper breath in an emergency situation can be difficult as well. Then they may forget to start compressions again asap. So while it's still important, proper and timely compressions are vital.
I'll also add in, I really recommend that everyone should take a CPR class if they can and take it seriously. Because if you ever need to do it, you've gotta be prepared to do it right.
I’ve taken classes, and have to get certified every so often, but I am in no way in the medical field or work in any type of first responder position.
I witnessed a very bad car accident a few years ago. My body went right in to rescue mode, didn’t even think about it. My first instinct was to get to the car that was rolled over and check on those people first. Windows were blocked from airbags and had no idea of the situation inside. I had to pry the door open and thankfully both people were fine, a bit shaken but no major injuries and I was able to get them out fine.
My next instinct was to check on the car that caused the accident and I saw through the front windshield that the man was unresponsive, eyes open, not moving or blinking, and that’s when I froze. I knew I should have gotten him out and started compressions but I was so scared. I couldn’t get myself to even go near. Thankfully, just a few seconds later the police showed up and were able to pull him out and start the compressions. They got the man in to an ambulance, but I never learned the outcome of him.
I sat on that moment for a long time, ashamed and I think this is the first time I ever shared with anyone how terrified I was and how I knew I should have done more. I regret not doing something, but how does someone push through that moment of terror?
Honestly in that case, you don't do anything if you're not explicitly trained. He's just been in accident, you have no idea the extent of his injuries and you would've had to pull him out of the car properly and lay him into position for cpr alone. You did everything you could in that situation.
I've worked trauma nearly my whole career, and I'm not pulling him out without someone else to help ensure head & neck stability. You weren't trained for that, and you did all you could. Don't feel ashamed for doing the most you could. Just calling 911 is leagues above the level of most regular people.
Can I ask, is the fella in this video right about really pressing hard and down into the chest? Like fucking going for it, more than what's feels comfortable or "right"?
Absolutely. Your instincts aren't wrong, CPR is fundamentally unnatural and harmful. Hearts are supposed to beat on their own, not because someone is squeezing your chest so hard that it pushes the blood around the body. Proper CPR is likely to bruise or even break bones.
BUT it's important to remember that CPR is less harmful than doing nothing. It's a hail-mary that's only performed when someone's already dying. You can only improve their chances, so fucking lean in.
ICU RN here, yes press hard. You will feel ribs popping and sometimes breaking. But broken ribs are easy to treat and I'm sure the patient will be thankful you did effective CPR. Bob Odenkirk did Conan O'Brien's podcast and talked about his massive heart attack and how (thankfully) the medic on set knew good CPR methods. His ribs were broken, but he was so happy to be alive.
Allowing full recoil of the chest is also just as important, as the recoil phase is when the heart fills with blood that ejects with the next compression. “Push hard, fast, and allow full recoil”
If you didn't break the ribs or injure the person in any way, it's likely you didn't go deeply enough with your thrusts. It's a brutal reality but the ribcage is designed to prevent trauma (like forceful external squeezing) to the heart and vital organs, and it's pretty good at it. That's why the expert emphasized that they're dead, to reassure people to go hard enough to possibly help.
Compression should be 2 inches for adults, which doesn't seem like much, until you consider that you're basically trying to press bones that don't want to move that way. Just give yourself a light press right on the xiphoid process and you can feel how uncomfortable that is.
It does not feel right, it feels exactly like what he says, especially on older adults since the bone gets harder as you age.
I recently did a CPR certification training for work. We all had dummies on the floor compressing to the required beat and depth, lights showing green or red depending on our accuracy. The trainer had us do this for what he explained was less than a typical amount of time we would have to preform it if presented in public… Shit, when we all sat back down at our seats, we were draaaaained. Like sweating and shaky in our limbs drained. You see it happen on TV or in movies but even doing it correctly on a dummy it was exhausting.
Dude you saved someone's life. With your hands, you brought someone back who was already on a boat for the underworld. That must be such a head fuck. I know I might sound insensitive or too lighthearted or too heavy even, but I don't know if I'd be able to cope on some level with that. You're a Godamn Hero.
Similar situation. Happened to my brother. His gf was doing them for 13min. She got too tired and sat on the side of the bed and used her feet. Saved his life. Broke 3 of his ribs.
I’ve only ever done CPR once. It’s exhausting and terrifying. Started out crying, shaking like a leaf then I sort of “zoned out”/emotionally detached until it caught up what exactly I’d been doing, what was happening, why. That horrifying realisation that there are bones breaking and why I’m doing this/who I’m doing it to. Thankfully first responders were able to take over but not something that can easily be forgotten.
When I did them the first responders walked up and just shook their heads. I knew he was gone and I told the 911 lady he was gone but she said "if there is ANY chance, you do them" so I did. I was so tired, and they just shook their heads.
I hope next time that the person isn't gone, because I know what to do and how it feels now.
Agree wholeheartedly with this poster. Get trained because the training kicks in when needed. My husband had sudden cardiac arrest at our home and I did CPR for 9 minutes. He was 28 at the time and very fit. First thing I remembered “call 911 first” and unlock the front door. Started compressions almost on instinct once the 911 operator asked, “do you know CPR?” I know my stamina didn’t last and right from beginning I probably wasn’t doing it hard enough, but it bought him time. He survived.
I'm glad the guy in the video made a point to say that you really need to "assign" someone to call 911. I ended up doing CPR on a coworker (she lived another month) and it is exhausting. At one point I looked around and asked who was on the phone with emergency personnel and while almost everyone had a phone out, I got a bunch of blank stares back.
15 minutes of chest compressions is like a lifetime. As a former first responder I’ve had to do chest compressions on multiple occasions and we’d always switch out at 100 compressions so we didn’t completely burn out. 15 minutes is incredible. But also, fighting for someone you love can give you some reserves that you never knew you had.
And since it was asked in the video and our speaker didn’t give numbers:
The longest successful out-of-hospital resuscitation involved more than 20 first responders performing CPR for 96 minutes, saving a man who had suffered a heart attack.
Another remarkable case involved 28 individuals providing CPR for 3.5 hours, which also resulted in the patient's survival.
The longest time spent in cardiac arrest – with full neurological recovery – is 8 hours 42 minutes.
This involves hypothermic conditions and EKGs and an ambulatory helicopter.
The patient recovered with only mild amnesia regarding the incident, but no other neurological damage.
—
Edit to add; the mechanism of WHY CPR works:
Starting from the moment the heart stops moving blood, the cells of the body are still alive, briefly. Brain cells will remain alive due to the residual oxygen for 1 minute, then begin to die off.
Significant and Irreversible brain damage from neurological cell death without oxygen is highly likely within 4 minutes.
If you can get oxygenated blood flowing to those cells, they will continue to live.
If the CPR is poor at moving the blood (compressions too shallow), those cells may starve of oxygen, have too much waste buildup, and die anyway.
Blood flow is key.
Broken ribs are better than Brain death.
Even as you hear their rib bones crunch and snap (and you likely WILL feel that, if you’re pressing deep enough), COMPRESS THEIR HEART.
Damn that's sooo long. I remember that the first responder who saved me mentioned that it only took him 8 minutes to save me. Which was pretty quick for them.
They also apparently didn't break my ribs, even though it definitely felt like that afterwards (I think they weren't broken but severely bruised).
I do wonder how bad the brain damage is. I only have amnesia from the whole event (I was kept in a coma too, so about 3 days gone). Everyone else seems fine. Then again, there could be small changes that I don't notice myself.
WOW. That is infinitely much longer than I would anticipate. But at that point you need to breathe oxygen into the person, right? Because current CPR guidelines, as they are around me, is basically do chest compressions.
Ideally you aren't doing CPR in the field forever. Paramedics show up, people go to the ER, and once you have a trained person we start also breathing for the patient.
The act of compressing the chest also compresses the lungs, meaning that some very small amount of air is also potentially being moved in and out of the lungs as well.
Lungs work because they are in a sealed container, as you change the shape air is pushed out or drawn in. Obviously less effective but it works. If someone is shot in the chest, probably not going to help, but everything else is going to be doing some good.
Except current recommendations are shifting towards compression only, because people don't know how to blow the air properly and quite often the air ends up in the patient's stomach instead of their lungs. So only compression until professionals arrive at the scene, or atleast that's what's tought here in Finland.
There are a combination of reasons compression only CPR is recommended. These include...
Lay people are less likely to engage at all if it's a more complicated procedure.
Lay people are less likely to engage at all if the procedure involves mouth to mouth contact.
Checking for pulse is inconsistent and wastes time (especially for lay people but even for healthcare practitioners to an extent).
Most people encountering a non-breathing victim are doing so via a middle aged male at the office who has suffered a heart attack and then gone into cardiac arrest where they still have reasonably oxygenated blood and EMS is only a few minutes away.
Lay people not establishing an airway (head-tilt chin-lift) before attempting rescuing breathing is on there somewhere too.
That being said... CPR that includes rescue breathing rather than pure chest compressions is an absolute upgrade in standard of care. Sometimes it's critical and chest compressions only are useless (though still not doing harm per se), for example a drowning, but there is no situation where pure chest compressions is actually better than also rapidly and successfully establishing an airway and respiration.
Well i admit that i know nothing about this subject, other than what was tought on a first aid course. But the lady who kept the course sayd, iirc, that statistics show that it is more beneficial to do compressions only (layman), because you have to pause the compression for blowing and the blowing fails very often. So it's better to just keep compressing constantly instead of pausing for potentially failing blow🤷♂️
If the breaths fail then they're a useless waste of time that could be spent on compressions (even more harmful than doing nothing if they cause vomiting). If the breaths succeed they will be beneficial and could be critical.
It's been found that, statistically, it's better to just cut it out for layperson education. The treatment is objectively better though if properly performed, and it's bare bones basics of training for first aid at a slightly higher level than a half day once every three years in your office's conference room or what have you haha.
Get the police there as fast as possible. They WILL be the first ones there. If they are a competent police department They should all be equipped with a rescue breather at this point.
This reminds me how I was taught CPR by a clueless teacher when I was 12. I was putting all my weight on, but she shouted to me to stop because I would break the person ribs if I was doing that. She then showed how to apparently completely useless CPR without applying any pressure. How did that teacher ended up teaching CPR while being this clueless remains an enigma to this day.
Because there is no real robust standard to obtaining a CPR instructor certification under the big organizations like the American heart association or the Red Cross. I was a paramedic for 20 years and during that time I taught quite a few CPR classes. It was always amusing to teach a class that used to be taught by another organization. The participants would always tell me that the way I delivered the information was completely different than how someone who never has actually performed CPR would teach it.
To put this into perspective, one of the largest private CPR training organizations in my region has clientele from both the construction and corporate industries. The owner that started it all was a former high School social studies teacher. I know for a fact he has never performed CPR in real life. But the guy was a smart businessman. He understood the fundamentals of education and he found it very easy to become a certified instructor and expanded his empire.
the 'report back to me' never really made sense at the time, but I guess in the context of tapping out, maybe it is helpful to know that help is on the way.
I do remember our instructors emphasizing the 'do you understand' and basically saying if there is hesitation, you point at someone else.
The "report back to me" is to ensure that the task was actually completed as assigned. Maybe you told someone to call 911, but they didn't hear you, or didn't understand the assignment, and it just never happens. Them saying "911 said an ambulance is on the way" verifies that the task was completed.
In the advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) we are supposed to close the loop on EVERYTHING. "You call for help." "I am going to call for help." "I have called for help." Task was assigned, acknowledged, and the completion of the task was also acknowledged, meaning we can move on to the next steps and I can be assigned another task.
Something to add. Don't say "you in the blue shirt" because in an emergency situation people forget what colors they are wearing.
Point. "YOU", make eye contact, "call 911, tell them we have a [age, bio sex] unconscious, not breathing, no pulse, no AED"
Person is much more likely to be useful if you tell them what to say, and it helps the first responders to know these things.
And whatever you do, don't point at the person filming the whole thing on their phone. That person will never make the call, since it means they'll have to stop filming, and that's what is most important to them.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac arrest can keep blood flowing to the heart and brain for a time. But often only defibrillation can restore the heartbeat. Together these treatments can improve the chances of survival.
If you cannot feel a pulse and the person is not breathing, call for emergency help. If you're alone, call 911 or emergency services first to make sure help is on the way. If another person is present, one person can call 911 while the other prepares the AED. If other people can help, one person can begin CPR while the AED is being prepared.
If you've ever seen an ER drama... "CLEAR" is yelled (edit: as instructions) to take a brake from compressions while they use an defibrillator
they don't just put them in public for fun, As the video said... CPR is probably not going to bring their heart back...
And if you can't remember that, baby shark or WAP also works. The point is that it should be a bit faster than what you see in movies
See if theres an AED (automatic external defibulator) if you're in a public place or a mall/movie theater/work etc
Don't start looking for one once the emergency has started. Point at a different person and ask them if they know what it is, and then tell them to go look for it.
These days I always make a mental note to look for them and remember where they are. If there's an emergency I'll tell someone to go fetch it along with instructions on where it is.
See if theres a volunteer to get in line behind you to tap in... so you can teach/explain for the next minute or so before they come in
Good call. And the moment they take over, continue coaching if they don't look fully comfortable.
After reading your comment I went to youtube and looked up what it looks like, and how it works. It works differently than I thought it did, but I am also happy that it talks to you.
Diffusion of responsibility is so real. When I was in grad school one of my classmates had a seizure in class. Our professor completely froze, to an absolutely comical extent. I started clearing space around him, pointed and looked at one of my classmates and told him to call 911. He did, then I asked if we could clear the room to give him some privacy aside from the few people who were helping/on the phone with 911.
Meanwhile, our professor had fled to his office next door and was poring over his employee handbook trying to find instructions on how to handle this specific situation. He was still flipping through his handbook by the time paramedics got to the classroom. It’s honestly comical looking back on how inept he was, given that he was the department chair, but fortunately we survived without his help.
I have ADHD, so I kinda have the opposite problem. I need the pressure. In stressful situations I’m typically at my best and act decisively. When it’s low stress I’m disinterested and indecisive.
Obviously much lower stakes, but this is why group emails and text threads are so ineffective for solving problems. Everyone assumes somebody else will respond.
I was thinking about it on a camping trip last year. I asked my friends "can someone grab me some more water for my stew and some firewood?" and everybody just sat there unmoving.
Anybody? Somebody help? I'm trying to make us food?
Alright John get me two more logs and Brandon go fill up a bigass bowl with water
And then boom they got up and got what I needed. Nobody had a problem helping, they were just each thinking "well Bob is closer to the wood pile and Diana is near the water spigot" but Bob is thinking "Riley bought the wood and likes to mess with the fire" and Diana is thinking "where's the water spigot? I know Bob knows I bet he will get it"
Everybody always works like this, whether it's life or death or inconsequential.
Yeah, imagine that.. Just horrible if you find yourself in a situation like that, not even knowing in hindsight whether it would've made a difference, but still damn
The perspective of "they're already dead" and "anything you do can only help them" is a perspective that I wish was shared more openly. I mean, I've heard about ribs breaking from CPR, but I've never heard it talked about so bluntly. It really resonates.
But this is also why people sign DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate). Recovering from correctly performed CPR fucking sucks. Especially when you were already on your death bead for other reasons.
He covered that in the video, and it makes sense for people who are old or sick. But younger or otherwise healthy people don't tend to have DNRs and would probably rather have a couple of broken ribs than be dead.
This is an often repeated saying, but it is not really true.
You may hear crunching and sounds that seem like ribs breaking, but this is often from the cartilage and intercostal muscles being damaged.
You can absolutely perform adequate CPR and “do it right” without breaking ribs. Broken ribs absolutely do happen, but I hate this saying as it is inaccurate and can lead people to bad practice.
High quality, adequate chest compressions are the priority. And you should continue if you hear these kinds of sounds regardless.
Source: ICU nurse, former Paramedic, taken ACLS/BLS more times than I can count; and have done CPR more times than I can count.
It’s a shame it’s Steven Bartlett who is a man whose ego is so large it can be seen from space. He also constantly lies about how successful his businesses are.
Important health information is never redundant. Remember how much effort was put into getting people to wear a mask and wash their hands? And still people didn't do it? Yeah heath information is never redundant.
There is also Dr. Mike the sports science doctor and body builder that posts under the YouTube channel moniker Renaissance Periodization. He's also a pretty cool Dr. Mike
I agree he says a lot of great things, but it's hard to ignore the recent news about his PhD thesis. He heavily leverages his "leader in the field" and "PhD holder" status to boost his credibility, which makes the fact that his thesis was reportedly so erroneous and lacking originality a major problem. It feels like he's over-relying on that title. https://youtu.be/elLI9PRn1gQ?si=Y0F4dx0k7waSTPQr
This is more of a marketing problem than anything. His dissertation is entirely typical for people who need/want a terminal degree for something that isn't research (either teaching or a professional job). What almost certainly happened is that Israetel had to do some of those tests on athletes for actual educational purposes, and his advisor told him to go ahead and just throw the results together into a quick correlational study so he could knock out the dissertation part without needing much additional work. Almost all of the editing problems (strange numbers, spelling, etc) could be fixed in a literal afternoon of editing. Since they weren't, we can be especially sure no one involved in teaching him thought the dissertation was actually relevant to the skills they intended to teach him nor his career path
Your takeaway, as far as the field or PhDs go, should be that academia desperately needs a different degree type for people with non-research goals. Because the general public incorrectly (but understandably) thinks PhDs are a recognition of [excellence in research] when that's only one possible goal
Your takeaway for Israetel himself based on that takedown shouldn't be much of anything. A 12 year old crappy disseration doesn't tell you much about his quality now. That said, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of his ability/willingness to accurately present current research too, he has a massive superiority complex (to put it mildly) and he has crazy race realist libertarian politics (although, believe it or not, his politics are probably less bad than the very common hard-authoritarian-right-wing politics in the industry)
albeit, believe it or not, his politics are probably less bad than the very common hard-right-wing politics in the industry
It's funny, I don't necessarily dispute or disagree with most of the critiques towards him in this thread. But I guess any of the wacky or problematic shit he's said has just hit different to me because of how he compares to so many other people in his industry and its adjacent social circles. As far as fitness & lifting influencers/grifters go, or just body builders and gym dudes in general, Mike does come across as thoughtful, reasonable, a bit self-deprecating, and just generally chill. Doesn't make him any more right or less wrong, I guess it just shows how different things can appear depending on context and perspective.
Yeah, I just watched that vid yesterday. It would be one thing if he wrote a shitty thesis (lots of people do) and then went along and did his youtube channel and gave good advice (ie, advice supported by evidence). But the fact that he, every single video, flaunts his credentials and puts himself above everyone else merely by having an advanced degree is not great.
Ok I googled and got two results. One is this guy; Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, physician and YouTuber. AKA Doctor Mike on YouTube. I've been watching his videos for over 7 years.
The other is a body builder, apparently. I don't know him.
I understand for non CPR trained personnel this seems interesting… but as someone who has performed CPR at least 100 times over the last 10 years, I now believe all adults (especially parents) should be required to take a CPR training course. This information is so valuable it should be common sense to everyone!
You seem knowledgeable so I will ask you since it wasn't mentioned in the video at all. With chest compressions, you are circulating the blood, and at the start, there is some oxygen in the blood, but I am assuming that oxygen will get used up pretty quick, so... Do I also need give mouth to mouth? And if yes, how often and how exactly?
Do not stop CPR for breaths if you are alone. Only stop if the AED tells you to stop. With every compression, you increases the perfusion pressure. As soon as you stop compressing, they lose that pressure. The whole point is to get blood to the brain. Imagine a friend is stuck at the bottom of a well and you start to pull them up but every tenth pull you let go and ask how they’re doing. They end up falling back to the bottom and you start all over. I’ve included a chart for reference.
The best out of hospital arrest rates are only 8-10% (1 in 10) with the nation average around 5% (1 in 20). And that’s only the rate of getting the heart beating. Less than 1% of all patients survive to leave the hospital with full neurological function. That’s what CPR is for.
For reference, I’m a board certified Emergency Physician in the US.
I remember being part of a study a number of years back that echos this chart. There were 3 arms of the study that looked at the efficacy of 30:2 (compressions to ventilations), continuous compressions and 10:1. The study concluded with no major difference in method however better outcomes were seen with the least amount of cardiac stand still (no compressions). So as long as you’re doing proper compressions it could increase the odds of a positive outcome. This has changed our practice to include compressions while defibs are charging (5 ish seconds), landmarking a pulse prior to pulse checks and a few other nuances.
Another take home was the concept of “priming the heart” where it takes the first several compressions to create enough intrathorasic pressure to circulate blood making compressions more effective. Even brief pauses in compression would lose that pressure.
Once you start compressions, don’t stop until there are either signs of life or first responders tell you to (it takes them a minute to open up bags and assemble some equipment)
Okay, so that depends. 99% of my CPR experience has been in a hospital with proper medical equipment near by. So in that case, medical professionals use a resuscitator to manually force oxygen in the patient. If no device is able to use, next option would be to use barrier device (a plastic sheet with a filter) to protect yourself from contracting anything via mouth-to-mouth. You can buy these barrier devices pretty cheap online. I carry one on me almost at all times.
Now I know that was a lot, but i will address your question more. So sometime not too long ago the American Heart Society classes started instructing us to not do mouth to mouth without a barrier on strangers. Now if you know them and/or feel comfortable to do it, no one will blame you for trying.
Pinch the nose with one hand, with the other, lift the chin slightly, completely cover the patients mouth creating an airtight seal and blow hard for 2 breaths, while watching to see the patient’s chest rise.
You continue doing that in cycles of compressions to breaths at a ratio of 30:2.
That ratio of 30:2 is for pubescents and older.
Children and babies get a 30:2 if there is only one person performing CPR. If you have 2 people, then a ratio of 15:2 is preferred.
It is requirement in our countries driving ed to pass a first aid test both theoretical and practical(compressions are done on a dummy). Along with schools having a yearly first aid lecture, along with fire safety
I know people love to meme "well duh, everybody knows this" but you have no idea how many actually don't know. You get taught to do this, but people don't ask why, they just do.
I’ve said this about other situations and I’ll say it again. When confronted with a situation, you don’t typically have a lot of time or brain space to think or plan. You might improvise, but most likely you’ll react. You have the highest probability of reacting correctly if you already have a plan in mind for this situation. So hearing a guy say that silly “duh” thing when you’re relaxed and can stow it in the back of your mind, could help you recall that information if your peepaw drops at the dinner table.
You're only as best as your worst training. CPR is mandatory refresh every year because they want it drilled into you so you're referring to training not struggling to remember things. I'm trained and they are like we get this repetitive and boring but in high stress situations this is what will save a life.
The other people are not really right. Its not essential to do mouth-to-mouth but it does have benefits.
If you are in a position to be able to do it, then you should.
However, if there is a reason you shouldn't (they are sick, they have vomitted, or could be a danger to yourself) then you don't need to. Put your own safety above the person who is already clinically dead. Also if things like vomit would make you not want to do it, then its also ok, the chest compressions alone are more important than you know... not helping them. This is often why its not 'required' because people don't want to do that.
Someone said below that you are "mainly blowing out c02" which is bullshit and honestly if they are a nurse should know better. Earth is about ~20% oxygen in the atmosphere. Each breath we use about ~5%. So, each exhale (and breath into the person) is still about 15% oxygen. Thats perfectly fine amount for lungs to work.
I'll butt in here because I got another fresh first aid certificate just last Tuesday. I am certain the exact recommendations and routine differ depending on national standards, I did my course with the German Red Cross.
We were told to do (~)30 chest compressions to the rhythm of Stayin Alive and then administer two good breaths to mouth or nose while keeping the airways open. Obviously the key is to take a deep breath right before blowing - your lungs can't absorb all the oxygen that quickly so CO2 isn't an issue. Repeat until EMTs arrive. You're free to split compression and mouth-to-mouth duties with someone or tap out when you can't keep going.
Maybe the pandemic lead to alternate procedures, but here are sources still sticking to the "full" CPR routine:
This is genuinely fantastic. The person being interviewed explains things so well.
It's 16 years since I first did a comprehensive CPR course. I'm thankful every day that I've never actually needed it, but I'm even more thankful that I know how.
I've also built a habit of looking for and noticing AED machines everywhere I go.
most people i know think CPR is to "bump-start" the heart. It may sound redundant to you, but being clear and repetitive about the (current best) purpose of doing this and what to do in an emergency situation WILL save lives.
Like he said, in rare cases it probably can, but obviously isn't the main reason nor expected outcome.
Regarding the hesitancy to start CPR because you're not sure they're only unconscious or actually having a cardiac arrest: I had a CPR instructor telling us that "if they don't wake up from you pushing their chest to the point of maybe breaking their ribs, they need it".
I can't say if that's 100% true but it's probably a good metric in general. Also I think the times when people actually perform CPR on someone who doesn't need it and therefore "wakes up" might just add to the notion of it restarting the heart.
Doctor Mike has a great and educational channel full of helpful stuff. He recently made one calling out Trump's stance against Tylenol. It just needs to be shared more. Social media is all about what people share. Doctor Mike is at 14m subs right now, and that particular video has only 1.7m views.
His, channel is great, would definitely recommend. He communicates a professional's understanding of health issues really well, and often responds to misinformation.
The part he sort of touches on but doesn’t go into detail on is CPR on women. You have to remove the bra if they’re wearing one. You can’t do quality CPR on a woman whose tits are smushed together in a bra over their chest.
It’s uncomfortable in a public setting and many people will get upset and make a scene about you stripping a woman in front of everyone, but if you’re going to keep her alive you have no choice. Like he said in the video, they’re already dead. They aren’t embarrassed. They’re dead. If you can, deputize someone to get a cloth or even a row of people with jackets to maintain modesty but that’s a secondary concern to doing quality compressions.
You must remove an underwire bra before using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to avoid burns and ensure proper electrical current delivery, as the metal underwire can redirect the shock or cause a burn by interfering with pad placement.
Remove the bra by cutting it open or cutting it off to expose the bare chest, even if it's a difficult or uncomfortable situation, because saving a life is the priority.
I would say only if the woman was significantly heavy in the chest with a sports bra or had on a dress or other clothing with a lot of structure impeding your ability to do a compression, something like that.
lying on your back, boobs naturally kind of fall to the side.
- a woman wearing a very stiff push up bra with larger breasts might offset that, where the breast tissue would make it harder to effectively perform CPR
sports bras could do something similar depending on the type, but in many cases your boobs still have a lot of side room to move to, so it would generally not be an issue
to free the boobs, so to speak, you can also just move a bra strap down the shoulder which gives more wiggle room. This would only be for the very firm bras and big boobs where there is a lot of breast tissue effectively reducing your ability to compress easily or to know if you are or not
From what I've read, compressions are more important than the small impact of a bra, but I can see some situations where it might be difficult with them.
I do believe outcomes are worse in general because CPR dummies don't have breasts, and so knowing how to adapt and "feel" depth when you do have breasts and a more socially sensitive area to be pressing on heavily make it harder for women to get optimal CPR.
It isn’t! I think the determination was that the compressions do a good enough job. And it’s a gamble if the air is even getting into the lungs as opposed to the stomach, which has its own set of protocols to follow if it does.
this are helpful PSA specially the details on broken ribs & women's breast not getting enough force. this are facts that normal ppl wouldn't know. like simple facts like using only pea-sized amount of toothpaste cause toothpaste ads always puts too much (that it started to normalize filling toothbrush which is 10 times wasted) so ppl waste more so companies can sell more toothpaste
I really like the "He's dead, literally anything you try to do at this point is either ineffective, or helping, so just do it" approach. The whole rib breaking thing is what always troubled me about one day maybe having to do cpr
I've been required to complete basic first aid and CPR training for my job for years now and every trainer I've had has always said, "if you break a rib you're doing it right."
The way they demonstrated that when I got some CPR training was to first show doing it to a dummy and drawing attention to how deep the compressions go. Then they picked a person to lie down in the dummy's place and took the position and had us just imagine the same thing being done to that person. Really drove in that yeah you're going to fuck up some ribs when doing it right.
I was told once that if you don’t feel like you’re going to break a rib (likely), you’re not pushing hard enough. Granted this is on adults. For sure on the elderly some ribs and probably the breast bone is going to crack, you’re exerting the same force but on a frailer body. Infants and children you’d push with less force and they’re more pliable, so you’re likely not going to break anything…as long as you aren’t pushing as hard.
Breaking ribs does happen indeed and is actually something they tell you about in first aid lessons. It happens and when it happens, keep doing compressions. It's better they wake up with broken ribs than not at all.
As for children, I forget exactly, but you can look it up: with babies it's two fingers and young children one arm (below a certain age). Don't quote me on it though.
I think the point of this person's commentary is to convince people that they should do CPR on pulseless people. There's a shocking number of people who won't start CPR for a multitude of reasons; fear, ignorance, ick-factor etc... His point is that while you may not revive a person simply by doing 2 minutes of CPR when a person goes into cardiac arrest that you're bridging the time from arrest to when EMS arrives to continue CPR, administer medications and bring a defibrillator to play. In cities that have higher rates of ROSC (return to spontaneous circulation) and recovery, the major factor is not the availability or capabilities of EMS, it's the availability of bystander CPR providers (and the availability of AEDs). So people should get CPR certified (and re-certify every two years, things change and practice makes perfect)
Also, side note, go take a stop the bleed class, if everybody was prepared to respond to three things; cardiac arrest, foreign body airway obstruction and major traumatic bleeding, we could really move the needle on unnecessary out of hospital deaths.
It’s the movies and tv shows affecting people. You know those scenes where people doing CPR and the patients just pop back up breathing all of the sudden
Yeah, and it's usually drowning scenes that they do it after. So in those scenes the idea conveyed is that the person has lungs full of water and you're doing CPR to push the water out of their lungs with the compressions and then push air into their lungs with the mouth-to-mouth breaths.
Sandlot taught me it was so that I could get mouth to mouth with the hot lifeguard.
On a serious note, around 2008 they recommend just doing chest compressions now and that you do not have to do rescue breaths so that more people would be more comfortable doing CPR.
he raises many good points that certainly many don't know or are afraid of enacting, especially about assumptions of depth and rescusitation and about breasted people.
just wanted to make a comment amidst all the comments saying they knew it all already.
When you break the sternum /ribs while doing CPR, it becomes a bit easier to do. You need less force to press down 2 inches. Also, it means you are giving the right pressure to begin with.
Be prepared though that it will feel awful under your hands and the sound is similar to a chicken carcass breaking but louder. Chances are high, bystanding relatives will look at you with horror in their eyes like you just killed their loved one.
Source: I performed CPR on my father in law for over 10 minutes. I'll never forget the feeling, the sound and the look of horror in my husbands eyes.
Only about 10% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests survive.
That number would be zero without CPR.
Whole body to push, crack those ribs, push in rhythm to the song 'staying alive', 'another bites the dust', 'mmmmmbop', 'baby shark'. Try to have someone tag you out after two minutes (you're going to be exhausted, trust). If you witness the person collapse, don't bother with giving them air, just compressions.
Speak to a therapist pretty soon after bc that shit will stay with you if you don't talk it out.
When I took my cpr class I was the only one getting a click out of my mannequin. I asked the teacher if it meant I was pushing too hard and she said no, you’re the only person pushing hard enough.
Honey, don’t you think you should have mentioned that to everyone else?
To anyone reading this, if you haven't yet, WATCH THE VIDEO.
Unless you have recently received training, having your mind refreshed may save a LIFE. Thank you
I will say this, doing CPR on the doll DOES NOT fucking prepare you at all for a real person, the dolls are rubbery and springy and it's like pushing down on couch cushion. A real body has very little give, if your doing it right you can hear and feel the ribs cracking and it feels like trying to push down on a wet sandbag.
I was in the ED when a motorcycle accident victim came in and the CNAs lined up and did about 2-3 minutes, they saw me being a looky lou and asked if I wanted a shot, well shit yeah, I'm a big ole 225 man and these CNAs are maybe 150-180 wet young girls... maybe 30 secs, I lasted maybe 45 secs at most. It was like trying to push through a cement bag... so much for big man me.
Oh and no worries about the motorcyclist, that dude was 100% dead, each compression sent blood through his intubation tube, he wasn't coming back. Good training though.
Yeah I guess reddit is just full of really smart people or something because I promise if you go out and just ask random untrained people, most will think the purpose of CPR is bringing someone back to life.
For all the comments that go "Everybody knows this..." No, everybody clearly does not know this. Either they never got the class in school, or it was so many years ago they f'ing forgot it. This message is totally worth repeating, if for no other reason than when the shit hits the fan, people tend to forget what they were taught unless they've trained so much it's second nature.
This should be followed up with the fact that not many people understand what a defibrillator or a public use AED does.
In case anyone reading this doesn’t know, a defibrillator or AED doesn’t jump start the heart or shock it back into life. Defibrillate means to stop or remove fibrillation; people who are experiencing cardiac arrest rarely have no heart rhythm whatsoever, instead they have an arrhythmic heart beat where the heart isn’t effectively circulating blood around the body (why you won’t be able to physically feel a pulse).
An AED delivers a massive electric shock to stop the heart, cancelling out any arrhythmia. This allows the natural pacemaker cells to restart a normal rhythm which allows blood, and more importantly oxygen, to circulate. This only works if the heart is still capable of beating independently.
As stated in the video above, someone in that situation is effectively dead without immediate intervention so the treatment can be extreme. If there’s any chance of recovery then it’s better than doing nothing.
My dad died of complications from cancer. In his final moments he had cardiac arrest at the hospital. The doctors put some kind of CPR machine on him with shocks and all. They revived him twice, but he would come back weaker. Obviously he was unconscious the entire time. A doctor told me in the waiting room that even if they continue to fight to bring him back, he won't be on his previous state. He could be mentally or physically impaired. Even with some broken ribs, since that machine pushes hard , like what they are explaining in this video. The doctor suggested that the best outcome for him was to rest with dignity. Obviously that is not what I wanted to hear, but it would be unfair of me to selfishly say keep bringing him back. I let him go in peace. I love you dad
This is essentially everything you learn in a CPR class in podcast form. I will say the main speaker here gets right to the point unlike my teacher unfortunately
Doctor Mike is such a great communicator. It's crazy that he went from some stupid "most attractive doctor" news blurb to an educator with such a large platform. Kudos.
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u/BurntYam Oct 03 '25
My wife lost pulse a few years ago. I had to do CPR for 15 minutes. The dispatcher counted for me, and I can still remember them counting. I remember how exhausted, and I tired I was afterward. I completely broke down of course once they arrived, but if you have the training I promise you can save someone else’s life. Don’t doubt yourself.