Hands-only CPR just as effective...

[Darth Biscuit]

As traditional mouth-to-mouth...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/28/chest.compressions/index.html?hpt=T2

Thought this seemed pretty important...

The two papers are remarkably similar in design and results. One was conducted in Washington state -- mostly the Seattle suburbs -- and in London, England. The other study was done in Sweden. In both cases, patients whose hearts had stopped received either traditional CPR, or a version with chest-compressions only. The patients were divided randomly, with 911 dispatchers giving instructions to callers who performed the CPR.

In the Seattle-London experiment, patients receiving chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth were more likely to survive without brain damage. In both experiments, patients getting chest-compressions only were more likely to survive, period.

In both cases, the difference was small enough that it was not considered statistically significant. But the authors -- and an accompanying editorial -- all said the findings support the idea that bystanders should be encouraged to do steady chest compressions on victims of apparent cardiac arrest, without pausing to give breaths.

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Dr. Myron Weisfeldt of Johns Hopkins University, who wrote the editorial accompanying the two papers, cautioned in a separate statement that there are some exceptions to the rule. "It is very important to understand that the patients in this study were adults and that for most children who suffer cardiac arrest, such as drowning victims, we must do rescue breathing." He also said patients with chronic lung disease or acute asthma, should also receive mouth-to-mouth.

[Hawk]

this has been out there for a while, yes. Thought being that there is enough O2 in the lungs to sustain life, so the number one priority is to circulate the blood as much as possible. If there are two people training, compressions and mouth to mouth is still preferred...second person has to do something useful!!!

[Darth Biscuit]

If she looks like this...

...she'll get mouth-to-mouth, otherwise... chest compressions only.

[Hawk]

I'd break her in half...she's going to have to be on top!