BLS CPR & First Aid Classes

Every parent, grandparent, caregiver, and babysitter should take a CPR/First Aid Course and become certified in Infant CPR.  According to the CDC, there has been a rise of deaths in infants that suffered from accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed or ASSB.  In a 20 year period, the infant mortality rate has quadrupled.  These rates are extremely high since the rate of death from SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, has declined in that time period.

To perform CPR on an infant, there are a few things that we should keep in mind.  While they are tiny precious gifts, we cannot do CPR effectively while holding the baby.  The baby must be laid on a flat surface.  They are much smaller than us.  We must be careful how much air we breathe into them.  We also need to watch the compressions.  While it is true that ribs break during CPR, we do not want to break all of them!

Usually with a baby we do not have to check the scene, as the baby’s parents have already removed them from the scene.  However, if we just find the baby, we do need to take the same precautions for our safety.  Now, we have to check for responsiveness.  Gently play with the baby’s foot and softly to the baby.  Watch for movements in the hands, mouths, and eyes, since some baby’s take longer to awake than others.  Next, we have to get the parents’ permission to treat their baby.  If no one is there to give us permission, we do need to yell “Implied Consent!”

Taking the pulse on a baby is quite a bit different.  Since most infants have not stabilized their heads yet, their necks are usually still a little wobbly.  Sometimes too, the “baby fat” makes the choroid artery unreliable.  On a baby, you want to place your index and middle finger on the inside of the baby’s arm right above the elbow, the brachial pulse.  Once again, you want to place your ear near the baby’s mouth for breaths, watching to see if the chest rises and falls, and checking the brachial pulse.  When these conditions do not exist, we need to start CPR at once!

The compressions on an infant are the same as they are on children.  If 1 rescuer, the ratio is 30 to 2.  If there are 2 rescuers, the ratio is 15 to 2.

First, place your choice of barrier method over the infant’s mouth and nose.  Gently and slowly, administer 2 small breaths into the baby.  Watch to see if the chest rises and falls.  If it does not, place the baby’s head back in the original position, and retilt.  Try the two breaths again.  If that still does not work, you must perform the Heimlich maneuver before continuing.

In order to do compressions on an infant, place your thumb and your middle finger across the infant’s chest lining up with its nipple line.  Follow the nipple line up, marking it with your index and middle finger.  You will use these 2 fingers to administer compressions.

You will perform 5 cycles on the infant before checking the vitals.  If the infant does not have any vitals, continue with CPR until medical assistance can take over.

CPR in adults is very easy but  there is much controversy over what age is an adult and which age is a child.  Since the heart size is determined by the size of the person and not the age of the person, always go by  if the 8 year old looks like he could be 12, then treat him as an adult.  But if the 10 year old looks like she is about 7, then treat her as a child.

The very first thing you do is, secure the area.  You are looking for anything that may have made this person need help.  If there is a liquid around them and you can’t identify it, stay away from it!  If you determine the area is safe, then you can continue to step 2.  If the area is unsafe, look and see if it is possible for you to move the person out of that area without risking your own safety.  If you can move them, then that is great!  However, if you cannot then you must just stop, call 911, and keep the area clear until medical assistance arrives.

Second, appoint someone to call 911 for you.  However, you want to be very specific “Hey you, in the red shirt, go call 911 and get back with me!”  Now you want to check and see if the person is conscious.  While tapping their arm or foot, yell as loud as possibly “Hey, are you okay?”  If you get a response, then you are done, if not then move on. You need to do a complete quick examination of the body with your hands, looking for any additional injuries.  Next, you are going to place your ear up to their mouth and your index and middle finger on their choroid artery.  Look down the chest to see if it is rising and falling, also feel for breath on your ear and checking their pulse.  If you have neither, begin CPR.

The counts are simple it is 30 compressions to 2 breaths.  This is the same for 1 or two rescuers. The first thing you do is tilt their head back to open the airway.  Now, place your barrier method over their nose and mouth, and breathe in 2 long breaths, each about a second.  While doing this, watch for their chest rising and falling.  If it does not, retilt their head, and try the two breaths again.  If this does not work, you are going to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver before you can proceed.

Now you are ready for compressions, place your fingers where the ribs and stomach meet.  With your fingers, follow the ribcage up to where the 2 sets of ribs meet up.  Place two fingers here to mark the spot, now place the other hand in front of those fingers.  Lift up your fingers and place your hand on top of the other, lace your fingers together.  With your knees firmly pressed against them, start applying the 30 compressions (about 1 ½ to 2 inches deep). Begin the cycle again. You are going to do this for 5 cycles, check for a pulse and breathing.  If the person is still not breathing, continue these cycles of CPR until medical attention arrives.

Taking a CPR and First Aid Class and really understanding and learning it can be a very rewarding experience.  Showing off the wonderful certification card, just makes your day!  However, actually performing it on a child is completely different.  The adrenaline kicks in, our hearts start beating faster.  What is we forget something?  Don’t worry with practice, everything turns out perfectly.

As always, the first thing is you want to examine the scene.  You are checking for anything that could be harmful.  If the scene is clear, you can go on; if it’s not then you have some choices to make.  Can I safely move this child?  If yes, then do so.  If not, as painful as it is going to be, you have to wait for help.  You also have to keep everyone around you safe! Check for consciousness.  While gently shaking their arms or feet, say loudly to them, “Hey, are you okay?”  If no response, check with the crowd to see who they are with.  “Is anyone here with this child?”  Repeat it three times.  If they respond, you must ask for permission to touch their child.  “Do I have your permission to help your child?”   If no response, you have to say as loudly as possible “Implied Consent!”  Appoint someone to call 911 for you.  “Hey you, in the Pink Swimsuit, call 911 for me and get back to me!”

Now, gently run your fingers over the whole body.  You want to be sure that there are no other injuries.  Next you want to check the pulse and to see if the child is breathing.  Place your ear close to the child’s mouth.  While doing this place your index and middle finger, on the child’s choroid artery.  It is located approximately a fingertip under the jaw, following the line from the ear.  Check for the child’s breathing by your ear and looking to see if the child’s chest rises or falls.  If neither is present, then you need to start CPR immediately. Bend over the child’s head; gently place your barrier method over the child’s nose and mouth.  Slowly administer 2 breaths, about a second each.  Also, watch to see if the child’s chest rises and falls.  If it does not, then re-tilt the head and try again.  If this still did not work, you must perform the Heimlich maneuver on the child before you can administer CPR.

The ratio of compressions to a breath on a child can differ.  If there is only one rescuer, the ratio is 30 to 2.  If there are two rescuers, the ratio is 15 to 2. You must be sure to apply the compressions correctly.  Place your fingers at the bottom of the child’s ribs, where their stomach is, and gently follow the ribs with your fingers up to where the 2 sides of ribs meet.  Place two fingers here.  Now in front of the fingers, place one hand down.  Place your other hand on top of the hand that is on the child, intertwine your fingers.  Start to apply compressions. This must be done for 5 cycles.  You are then going to reassess the child.  If the child is still not breathing and there is no pulse, continue CPR until medical attention arrives.

There are some of you out there who would like to know CPR for you never know when you are going to need it. It’s always nice to have. Yet, there are just as many of you out there who can’t get to the places that hold these classes. You do have one option. Here we will look at online CPR training: pros and cons.

Now, as we are looking at online CPR training: pros and cons, one of the cons we can tell you about right of the bat is that unless you have a dummy at home, you can’t practice what you are being taught. When you take a class where you are with the instructor, you are to practice on the dummies there to understand what it is you are supposed to do. The other part to that is that you don’t have an instructor looking at you while you do this to see if you are doing it right.

There are some people who take the online CPR training courses who have had to do CPR and didn’t know the exact location of where to thrust and such due to the fact that they didn’t have the proper training. Now, would you want someone who says they had training, but didn’t know the specifics working on you? It’s something to think about and that is the biggest con to the online CPR training: pros and cons.

The last con that we could see is that different angles might give you poor sight as to what the instructor is doing. So, the act of getting a good understanding of what you are supposed to be doing depends on the instructor on the screen as well as the professionalism of the course.

The other pro when you start looking at online CPR training: pros and cons is that you will find they aren’t certified. If you want CPR for the purpose of work or something else where you will need a CPR certification, then you will find that online training courses isn’t for you. If they are certified, which is a big if, and then there are those who question how valid it is as you don’t have to take a test in front of someone to talk about what you might have done wrong or the things that you did right and to understand why you do these things.

Now, the nice thing with these CPR training courses that are online is that they are online. You don’t have to try finding the building or the time. You can access them at any time too. Normally, you don’t have to pay for them easier. So, if you are trying to learn for the heck of it o as to have knowledge about it, then this is for you.

It’s also nice for those who have CPR training, but need a refresher course. Sometimes, you might just want to look it up to see how you are to do it as you might forget how many thrusts or how many breaths you are supposed to use. This is a nice resource for in those predicaments as well.

So, you see why many debate whether they should do the online courses or not. The online CPR training: pros and cons are about equal. You have to think what you would want if you were in the position of needing CPR. You also have to consider if you could see enough to know where to place your hands and such.