Essay On Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

The first time I saw CPR being performed was about a year ago. My family and I were having an early dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Concord, when we heard a commotion on the other side of the restaurant. My mom got up to look, but never came back. After awhile, I got up to look for her, and what I saw amazed me. My mom was on top of a man’s chest doing what I now know as chest compressions. We never found out what happened to the man, but what I know is that I want to learn CPR. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a lifesaving technique, useful in emergency where someone’s breathing or heart beat has stopped (Mayo Clinic). Its main goal is to manually preserve organ functions, especially the brain, of a person who is in cardiac arrest. CPR is important because cardiac …show more content…
Advanced Life Support or ALS is a set of life saving steps that goes beyond the Basic Life Support or BLS. BLS can be provided by any first responder, trained or untrained. ALS requires trained rescuers to go beyond chest compression by using intravenous medications and an AED to increase blood circulation, and provide adequate ventilation using a breathing tube. During a sudden cardiac attack, the heart twitches irregularly and therefore is ineffective in pumping blood throughout the body. Chest compressions will help pump the blood, but it will not stop the irregular heart twitches. It is imperative to stop the irregular twitches of the heart and return it to its normal beating function. This is the goal of an AED. The AED shock will “stop” the heart and its abnormal twitching. After a shock is delivered, a medical personnel hopes that when the heart starts to beat again, it will return to its normal beating. Once the victim’s heartbeat returns to normal or almost normal, it is best to transport him or her to the nearest hospital for continued monitoring and post cardiac arrest care (Mayo