Department of Biology

University | A to Z | Departments

• 
• Department of Biology
• Current staff and students
• Health and safety
• First Aid
• Defibrillator & Bleed Control Kit in Biology
• What does CPR involve

• Study
• People
• Research and impact
• Public and schools
• About us
• Contact us
• Current staff and students
  • Seminars
  • Current research students
  • Health and safety
    • Accident reporting
    • Biological safety (including GM organisms)
    • Biology Safety Committee
    • Chemical Safety 2
    • Code of Good Laboratory Working Standards
    • Computer safety
    • Dry ice
    • Electrical safety
    • Fieldwork
    • Fire safety
    • First Aid
      • Non-emergency-first-aid-referral
      • First aid overview
      • Departmental requirements
      • First aid boxes
      • Field trips
      • First aid guidance
    • Forms and documents
    • Gases & cylinders
    • Health & Safety Signage
    • Lasers2
    • Latex gloves
    • Legionella
    • Liquid Nitrogen2
    • Lone working
    • Manual handling
    • Policy statement
    • Risk assessments
    • Safety bulletins & news
    • Safety inspections
    • Safety management
    • Safety monitors
    • Safety responsibilities
    • Sensible risk management
    • Training
    • Travel Abroad2
    • Visitors and new starters
    • Work experience placements
  • Electronic services
  • Mechanical workshop
  • Operational Support
  • Stores
  • Ethics Homepage
  • Human Tissue
  • Wiki site for Biology staff
  • Departmental information

What does CPR involve?

• Chest compressions (pumping the heart by external cardiac massage), to keep blood circulation going until the ambulance arrive
• Rescue breathing (inflating the lungs by using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation)
• Recommended ratio of 30 x chest compressions to 2 x rescue breaths
• However, note that even if you haven't received CPR training with rescue breathing, you can still use hands-only CPR (see below)

Hands-only CPR
Some people, such as first aiders, are trained how to deliver ‘rescue breaths’ (mouth-to-mouth ventilation), and doing this in addition to chest compressions remains the recommended treatment for a first response to cardiac arrest. However, if you do not know how to deliver rescue breaths, it is better to deliver ‘hands-only CPR’ (i.e. chest compressions) immediately and without interruption, rather than doing nothing or attempting ‘rescue breathing’ ineffectively.
Vinnie Jones fronted a British Heart Foundation campaign from 2011 urging more people to carry out CPR, showing how hard and fast Hands-only CPR to Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees can help save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.