Katie Garagnon

ISM 6th Period

“Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices.” Every Second Counts, American Heart

Association, www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-

public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_301646.pdf.

 There are approximately 359,400 cardiac arrests in the U.S. alone that are
reported/assessed by EMS outside of hospitals.
 Less than 10% of these victims that had cardiac arrests outside of the hospital atmosphere
survived.
 Cardiac arrest is more common in older adults, typically those with heart disease, though
they occur among all age groups.
 As Americans age, cardiac arrests become more frequent/common.
 A patient’s chances of survival are more than doubled when CPR and defibrillation with
the use of an AED are started immediately after cardiac arrest begins.
 The only way to restore one’s heart to normal rhythm from cardiac arrest is early
defibrillation and CPR.
 The patient’s chances of survival decrease by 7-10% with every minute that passes
without receiving CPR and defibrillation.
 According to the 2013 Update of AHA’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, 23% of the
cardiac arrests that occur outside the hospital setting are arrhythmias that can be shocked
and returned to normal rhythm with an AED.
 There is a shortage of AEDs and people trained for CPR therefore many lives that could
have been saved are lost.
 64% of Americans have never seen an AED before.
 AEDs/AED programs boost survival rates.
 Communities that have AED programs including AED/CPR training have achieved
success rates of about 40% in cardiac arrest victims.

This reliable source provided by the American Heart Association was useful in providing
insightful information mainly regarding what kinds of factors can increase a patient’s chance
of survival, specifically in cases of cardiac arrest, while briefly mentioning one factor of
decreasing success rates.
 Katie Garagnon
ISM 6th Period

“Types of Resuscitation.” Life Support, North York General Hospital, May 2016,

www.nygh.on.ca/data/2/rec_docs/2487_Life_Support_May2016.pdf.

 Determining which method of resuscitation or how to continue during emergency

situations is solely dependent upon the patient and their wishes and beliefs, so
methods may vary.
 Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR is used during emergency scenarios in which
the heart or breathing ceases.
 CPR is useful in trying to restart the heart and/or restore a person’s breathing.
 CPR involves mouth-to-mouth artificial breathing along with manual chest
compressions.
 This compressing action is an attempt to mimic a healthy beating heart in order to
restore proper circulation in the body.
 Additional ways to stimulate the heart during CPR include electrical shocks and drugs
known as vasopressors and inotropes.
 Defibrillation is another component/type of resuscitation.
 Defibrillation is defined as electric shocks that are sent to the heart in attempt to
restore to a regular rhythm.
 This electrical shock is useful during situations in which the heart can’t beat/pump on
its own for any number of reasons.
 Though convenient in many scenarios, defibrillation cannot successfully restart a
heart that loses all electrical activity and/or is severely damaged in the cardiac
muscles that effectively pump blood throughout the body.
 Occasionally, CPR may be deemed inappropriate because it may cause more harm
than it may treat or it may be a situation so severe that it may not even help.
 “No-CPR orders” are sometimes signed by patients and prohibit medical
professionals from resuscitation/conducting CPR on them in case of cessation of
heartbeat/breathing.

This source covers the types of resuscitation, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation,

defibrillation, and the scenario of “no-CPR orders” also known as “DNR forms” and what
they all involve/mean.
 Katie Garagnon
ISM 6th Period

“Highlights of CPR Dating Back to the 1700's.” History of CPR, American Heart Association,

cpr.heart.org/AHAECC/CPRAndECC/AboutCPRFirstAid/HistoryofCPR/UCM_475751_

History-of-CPR.jsp.

 Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was recommended for drowning victims by the Paris

Academy of Sciences in 1740.
 1891-the first documented use of chest compressions in humans by Dr. Friedrich Maass.
 The first successful utilization of chest compressions during human resuscitation was by
Dr. George Crile in 1903.
 He also performed the first successful American cardiac massage (closed-chest) in the
year 1904.
 In 1954, “James Elam was the first to prove that expired air was sufficient to maintain
adequate oxygenation” (“Highlights of CPR Dating Back to the 1700’s”).
 Peter Safar and James Elam invented mouth-to-mouth resuscitation during the year 1956.
 Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was adopted by the U.S. military for reviving unresponsive
persons in 1957.
 Modern cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was developed during the year 1960 in
addition to the American Heart Association becoming the nation’s renowned CPR
training association for medical professionals.
 In 1979, ACLS (advanced cardiovascular life support) was first introduced to society
during the year 1979.
 In 1988, the American Heart Association developed both basic and advanced forms of
pediatric life support (PBLS and PALS) in addition to neonatal resuscitation with the
help of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

This source was tremendously thorough about the history of CPR and resuscitation as a
whole and provided a detailed timeline of all notable events.