Rescue breathing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rescue Breathing is a specific first aid protocol which refers to the delivery of air from a person (the rescuer) into a patient. In some countries it is called Expired Air Resuscitation (EAR) or Expired Air Ventilation (EAV). A common everyday term is "mouth-to-mouth resuscitation".
There are several informal terms for rescue breathing, such as "the kiss of life".
The act (alone) of one person exhaling into another unresponsive person is generally known as "Artificial Respiration", which makes up a part of the Rescue breathing protocol.
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[edit] Description
- When a person has not been choking and their airway is clear of obstruction, their body may no longer be breathing but may still have a pulse.
- There are three basic types of situations where breathing stops and it is necessary to employ Rescue breathing
- Directly- a drug interaction causes the brain to stop breathing, e.g. drug overdose
- Indirectly- an obstruction causes breathing to stop, e.g. vomit
- Behavioral Toxicity- an accident causes breathing to stop, e.g. swimming
A person who is capable will use their own breath at prescribed intervals to push oxygen into the lungs of a patient who isn't breathing. By doing this they are providing enough oxygen to the patient not breathing to survive.
[edit] Efficiency and Safety
Normal air contains approximately 21% oxygen; air being exhaled by humans contains 17% oxygen, which is more than enough to help a non-breathing patient.
Several concerns have been raised regarding rescuer safety, although the resuscitation council (UK) reports that there have been no documented cases of rescuers contracting infectious diseases following rescue breathing. For this reason, several protector devices (such as the face shield) have been developed.
[edit] References
- ↑ Physical Intervention: Life Support (Rescue Breathing). Retrieved on December 29, 2005.
