The CPR guidelines should include the head-tilt–chin-lift technique in addition to the recommended chest compression, argues a commentary in CMAJ. (Photo credit: CMAJ)
Three physicians argue for re-introducing the traditional ‘head-tilt-chin-lift’ technique to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for untrained bystanders in a new commentary article. The technique was eliminated as part of an effort to make CPR instructions easier to understand and thus more likely to be used.Â
The authors say that completely removing mouth-to-mouth instructions is dangerous for patients with cardiac arrest from a noncardiac cause such as a respiratory problem, which happens as much as 15% of the time. They conclude that this additional technique would be a good step to increase the actual survival rate of 14% with compression-only CPR.
Original research paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on July 28, 2014.
Names and affiliations of selected authors
