New AHA CPR Guidelines

AHA Recommendation

The American Heart Association, in collaboration with the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), adopted new CPR science guidelines in September 2000. These guidelines are the basis for teaching CPR.

The new guidelines recommend the following:

1. Rescuers should phone 9-1-1 for unresponsive adults before beginning CPR. Exceptions: Provide CPR first for adult victims of submersion, trauma and drug intoxication.
2. Rescuers should provide about one minute of CPR for infants and children up to age 8 before calling 9-1-1.
3. Prehospital BLS providers should identify possible stroke victims and provide rapid transport and prearrival notification to the receiving hospital.
4. Lay rescuers will no longer be taught a pulse check. The signal for lay rescuers to begin chest compressions is the absence of signs of circulation (normal breathing, coughing or movement) in response to the two rescue breaths.
5. The compression rate for adult CPR is increased to about 100 per minute.
6. The compression-to-ventilation ratio for CPR for victims age 8 or older is 15 compressions to 2 breaths for one or two rescuers.
7. Chest-compression-only CPR is recommended ONLY when the rescuer is unwilling or unable to perform mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.

Most of these changes have been developed to improve the victim's chances of recovery and to simplify teaching CPR skills.