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If the heart has stopped beating, rescue breathing can only do so much if the heart is unable to pump oxygenated blood to the brain and rest of the body.
In such a case, you would need to either perform modified CPR (also known as “bystander CPR”) or professional CPR if you have the competency to deliver chest compressions with rescue breathing.
The two procedure can be broadly described as follows:
- With modified CPR, you would compress the chest twice per second, roughly in tandem to the beat of the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive.”
- With professional CPR, you would compress the chest 30 times at two compressions per second, followed by two rescue breaths.
Never attempt professional CPR if you have not been recently trained and certified in the technique. Doing so may harm more than it helps.
According to research published in the Lancet, modified CPR was more effective than professional CPR in bystander situations, increasing the rate of survival in people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.