New CPR Guidelines May Save More Lives

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 15 -- Hoping to save more lives by making CPR performance as straightforward as possible, the American Heart Association today announced it has revised its guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the treatment of cardiovascular emergencies.

One of the most significant alterations to the policy, which hasn’t been changed in eight years, is that untrained bystanders and CPR-certified lay people will no longer have to check an unconscious person’s pulse before administering chest compressions. Instead the person can “check for lifelessness” using breath, movement and response to stimulation as indicators, says Dr. Roger D. White, professor of anesthesiology at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.

Research indicates that at least 35 percent of trained and untrained rescuers are wrong about whether or not a victim has a pulse, Dr. Vinay Nadkarni, chairman-elect of the heart association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee says. According to Nadkarni, the United Kingdom and European Resuscitation Councils have already successfully deleted pulse checks by lay people from CPR training.

Pulse Check Not Effective

“Pulse check is not effective. Even health care workers have difficulties. And when bystanders look for a pulse, it’s even less effective. Almost 99 percent of them can’t do it in the first 10-15 seconds,” explains Dr. Paul Pepe, AHA spokesperson and professor and chair of Emergency Medicine at the University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas Healthcare providers will, however, still be expected to check a victim’s pulse before doing chest compressions, he said.

The guideline changes mean that people who have previously been trained in CPR will need to be re-trained when their current certification expires, and new CPR training materials used in CPR classes will be available for widespread use by next summer, the AHA said. U.S. guidelines for emergency CPR were last revised in 1992.