Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

« Back to Glossary Index

An emergency measure that can maintain a person’s breathing and heartbeat. The person who performs CPR actually helps the patient’s circulatory system by breathing into the patient’s mouth to give them oxygen and by giving chest compressions to circulate the patient’s blood. Hands-only CPR involves only chest compressions

Alternative Meanings:

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation [CPR]
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. An emergency procedure used when someone's heart has stopped (cardiac arrest) to maintain blood flow to the brain and vital organs until normal heart rhythm can be restored. CPR combines chest compressions — pressing hard and fast on the centre of the chest to manually pump the heart — with rescue breaths in trained responders, or chest compressions alone (hands-only CPR) in untrained bystanders. Current Resuscitation Council UK guidance recommends hands-only CPR for bystanders: 30 compressions at a rate of 100–120 per minute, pressing down at least 5–6cm. CPR alone is unlikely to restart the heart; it buys time until a defibrillator can be used. Even imperfect CPR is far better than none.

« Back to Glossary Index