CPR Instructions Should Focus On Continuous Chest Compressions, UT Southwestern Physicians Recommend

From Science Daily, an excerpt:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions given over the phone by emergency dispatchers to lay rescuers should focus primarily on continuous chest compressions instead of the traditional ABC's - "airway, breathing, circulation," according to Dr. Paul Pepe, chairman of emergency medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Dr. Pepe, along with international colleagues from the Council of Standards for the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), made the recommendation in the May issue of the journal Resuscitation.

The council had been asked to update and modify protocols for emergency dispatchers who may need to give rapid telephone instructions on how to perform CPR. The council's recommendations were based largely on experimental data and a supportive clinical trial that found improved survival with a "compressions-only" approach. The council's recommendations were also based on the notion that simplifying the guidelines would increase the chances that CPR will be performed since some people may be reluctant to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.