A new report out of the New England Journal of Medicine has found that longer CPR – that is, administering the technique for as much as two minutes – is not of substantial benefit to the victim of cardiac arrest. In fact, in some instances, it may make things worse.
Ultimately, experts are still trying to determine how much CPR is enough. The technique, of course, increases blood flow to the heart and enables the victim to respond more effectively to defibrillation. What’s not known is if 30 seconds of CPR or, say, two minutes of CPR is the optimal amount of time before administering shocks to the heart.
Another element of the study which should be taken into consideration is the the fact that researchers looked at CPR as administered by emergency personnel and paramedics only and did not factor in bystander CPR.
As such, the trial’s representatives insisted that bystanders should continue to administer the technique as soon as possible and as dictated by their onsite CPR certification instructors.
