Reevaluating protocols for resuscitation: CPR may become a thing of the past

Popular Mechanics has a story on how the American Heart Association is reevaluating protocols for resuscitation. The new focus is on cardiocerebral resuscitation, or CCR, which differs from CPR in that for the first 5 to 10 minutes after cardiac arrest, a rescuer does not breathe for the patient at all. Instead, all attention is directed toward performing unrelenting chest compressions at a rate of 100 per minute. The reason for the new outlook, researchers are saying, is because it is more important for the first 5 to 10 minutes to keep oxygen circulating to the brain than it is to fill the lungs with air. CPR hasn’t been written off just yet, however. But look to hear more about CCR classes in the near future