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CPR Precautions

CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which saves lives. When doing CPR, rescue breathing (a person breathes into the mouth of another person), combined with chest compressions, is done when a person's heart has stopped beating or the person is not breathing. Those doing CPR must be aware of the risks that are also involved and need to take precautions to prevent themselves from contamination by infected blood, body fluids or tissues.

  1. Mask or Shield

    • Wear a CPR mask or shield so that your mouth and other parts of your face do not come into direct contact with the victim. CPR masks provide protection against fluids being transferred between the rescuer and the victim. The mask should consist of a fiber filter in the one-way valve that increases protection against transmission of disease. Face shields are advised. They are semi-transparent, which allows the rescue to see the lip color of the patient as well as vomit. The mask prevents coming into contact with the blood or saliva of the victim. The face shield is also equipped with a one-way valve that the rescuer blows through.

    Cleanliness

    • Those who routinely do CPR (emergency response personnel, hospital employees) wear gloves so that they do not come into physical contact with the victim's body fluids, tissues or blood which can contain infectious material.

      Washing your hands before and after every procedure with an antiseptic cleaner is required.

    Eye Protection; Gowns

    • Ideally, you should wear eye protection and full-body gowns in the event that blood is splashed onto the rescuer's face or body.

    Disposal

    • When finished giving CPR, put all of the contaminated equipment into a bio-hazardous waste bin for proper disposal.

    Lay Rescuer

    • If you are a lay rescuer, you should follow these precautions, which are followed universally by medical personnel. Unlike medical personnel, you might not ordinarily have this type of equipment at your disposal. Consider purchasing a face mask and/or face shield and carry in it your car, store it at your place of work, or put it in your home in the event that you ever need to do CPR.

    Victim's Perspective

    • When CPR is performed, the victim is at equal risk of being exposed to a disease if the rescuer has an infectious disease; therefore, the benefits of wearing a face mask and/or face shield cuts both ways and protects the victim as well as the person who is performing CPR.

    CPR and Babies

    • Special precautions are needed when dealing with small children or babies. When giving CPR to a child under the age of one year old, shout and then gently tap the child on the shoulder. If there is no response and the child is not breathing, put the infant on his back and begin CPR. Give 30 gentle chest compressions. Do a minimum of 100 compressions per minute, using two or three fingers, which you use to press on the center of the chest, right below the child's nipples. Press down about 1.5 inches when doing compressions. Do not press as hard as you would on an adult.

      Open the child's airway and tilt his head backward slightly by lifting his chin. Gently breathe into the baby's mouth two times. If the baby is breathing abnormally or not at all, cover the baby's mouth and nose with your mouth and give two breaths. When you perform CPR on an adult you do not cover his nose with your mouth. Each breath should last approximately one second. The baby's chest should rise with each breath. Keep doing 30 pumps and two breaths and repeating this process until emergency helps arrives.

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