Emergency Cards EN

International

CPR and resuscitation

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

Not breathing normally? Call 112, then push hard and fast on the centre of the chest, 100 to 120 times a minute.

When the heart stops, the person does not respond and does not breathe normally. An occasional gasp is not breathing. Chest compressions started in the first minutes make the biggest difference to survival.

Step by step

  1. Check for danger to yourself first. Traffic, electricity, fire, gas.
  2. Shout at the person and shake their shoulders. No reaction means they are unresponsive.
  3. Tilt the head back, lift the chin, then look and listen for normal breathing for no more than ten seconds.
  4. Call 112, put the phone on speaker, and send someone to fetch the nearest defibrillator.
  5. Put the heel of one hand on the centre of the chest and the other hand on top. Press five to six centimetres deep, 100 to 120 times a minute, and let the chest rise fully between compressions.
  6. If you are trained and willing, give two rescue breaths after every thirty compressions. Otherwise do compressions only.
  7. Swap with another person every two minutes if you can. Keep going until the crew takes over or the person wakes up.

Never do this

  • Do not stop to look for a pulse. Untrained pulse checks waste time and are unreliable.
  • Do not worry about breaking ribs. Ribs heal. A brain without oxygen does not.
  • If you are the only one there, do not leave the person alone to look for a defibrillator.

Call emergency services if

  • The person does not respond and is not breathing normally.
  • The person is gasping, snoring or making irregular noises and cannot be woken.
  • Someone collapses suddenly and you cannot rouse them.

Common questions

What do I do with a defibrillator?

Switch it on and follow the voice prompts. It will not shock a heart that does not need one. Keep compressing while the pads go on, and stand clear only when the device tells you to.

Is it different for a child?

Give five rescue breaths first, then thirty compressions to two breaths, pressing about a third of the depth of the chest. If you are untrained, use adult CPR anyway. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

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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.