Emergency Cards EN

International

Choking

Reviewed

Use at your own risk. For education and research only. Not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in, because they change. Before you rely on these cards, ask a medical professional or a fire safety specialist to review them. Disclaimer

Do this first

Ask loudly: are you choking? If they cannot answer, give five hard back blows between the shoulder blades now.

With a fully blocked airway, a person has three to four minutes before the brain starts to run short of oxygen. They cannot make a sound, so they cannot call for help. Both hands grabbing the throat is the universal sign.

Step by step

  1. Ask: are you choking? If they can speak or cough loudly, do nothing except encourage the coughing. A working cough does more than anything you can do.
  2. If the cough is silent or they cannot breathe, stand to the side and slightly behind them, support their chest with one hand and lean them forward.
  3. Give up to five sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. After each one, check whether the object is out.
  4. If that fails, stand behind them and put your fist just above the navel. Grip it with the other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards, up to five times.
  5. Keep alternating five back blows with five abdominal thrusts until the object comes out.
  6. If the person goes limp, lower them to the ground, call 112 and start CPR at once. Compressions also push air against the object.
  7. After any abdominal thrusts, a doctor must check the person, even if they feel fine.

Never do this

  • Do not sweep the mouth blindly with a finger. It pushes the object deeper. Remove only what you can clearly see and grip.
  • Do not use abdominal thrusts on a pregnant woman or a baby. Give a pregnant woman chest thrusts, and a baby back blows with chest thrusts.
  • Do not leave a choking person alone, even to get help.

Call emergency services if

  • The airway is fully blocked, or the person keeps choking after the first back blows.
  • The person became unresponsive at any point, even briefly.
  • Any choking that needed abdominal thrusts, once the object is out.

Common questions

What about a baby under one year?

Lay the baby face down along your forearm with the head low. Give five back blows between the shoulder blades, then turn them over and give five chest compressions with two fingers. Never use abdominal thrusts on a baby.

I am choking and completely alone. What can I do?

Call 112 even if you cannot speak, and leave the line open. Push your own abdomen hard against a chair back or table edge, just above the navel. Repeat until the object moves.

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Sources and standards

Use at your own risk. For education and research only. Not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in, because they change. Before you rely on these cards, ask a medical professional or a fire safety specialist to review them.