In case of cardiac arrest, the first intervention is that of cardiopulmonary resuscitation commonly known as heart massage.
It is one of the main life-saving maneuvers, taught in any first aid course: to spread knowledge, the Italian Resuscitation Council has also developed a video game, Relive, and an app.
It is practiced in case of cardiac arrest and serves to “mimic” the work of the heart so that blood and therefore oxygen can reach the organs, avoiding irreversible problems: since the heart stops pumping, the chances of survival drop by 10 percent every minute, after five minutes with the heart stopped, the brain can be permanently damaged.
First of all, help must be called (118), in order to have all the necessary information. The rescuer then has to place his hands with outstretched arms in the center of the chest, one open and the other above, and make a sequence of thirty compressions (the so-called heart massage, the rib cage must go down by 4-6 centimeters) at the rate of about one hundred per minute , alternating with two mouth-to-mouth breaths of one second each to insufflate oxygen.
The compressions are to be counted aloud and not to stop for more than five seconds; after a minute you hear if the heartbeat has returned and continue, continuing to check every thirty seconds.
Inexperienced rescuers will receive all the necessary information when they call 911, so it is always important to call for help.
In case of cardiac arrest, is heart massage or artificial respiration more important?
Heart massage is of primary importance, as oxygen remains in the blood for several minutes.
When you need to stop cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Warning: cardiac massage is very tiring, but you need to do it until help arrives or until your strength runs out (for this it is better to alternate if you are more than one rescuer).
How to prepare for artificial respiration
Gently tilt the patient’s head backwards, in order to open the airways, and then close the nostrils by “pinching” the nose, in order to prevent the air introduced from exiting immediately without reaching the lungs .
What if a defibrillator is available?
Defibrillation should be performed, if possible, before cardiopulmonary resuscitation to restart the heart and restore normal heart rhythm.
The Rescuers Trick. If you find yourself having to give help, in addition to knowing how to do the so-called life-saving maneuvers, you need to be calm and to remember what to do, the method can be useful.
ABCDE
acronym that reminds the rescuers of the sequence of checks and actions to be performed ».
- A stands for airways: the first thing to do is to check if they are free,
- then evaluate if there is and how is the breath (the B of breath), because without oxygen in a very short time you die.
- Then you hear the heartbeat (the C of circulation) and, if necessary, action is taken to restore it,
- then we pass to the D of disability, seeing if the victim opens his eyes, moves, responds.
- Finally, there is the E of “exposure”: removing the clothes if necessary, the injured person must be evaluated from head to toe to check if there are traumas, injuries, wounds.
Anyone should have the basic skills to intervene, which is why we often organize courses in schools. And the very young are the most attentive and talented ». However, taking into account the first rule of rescue: “The emergency scene must always be secured”, Mario Guarino, secretary of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (Simeu), explained some time ago to Focus.
“If there is a fire, or someone is drowning, or a person has been electrocuted and so on, the rescuer must intervene only after he has judged that doing so is safe: he could easily leave us life, thus increasing the number of victims instead of to be useful. Then you must always call 118, trying to describe well what is happening so that the most suitable help can be sent.
