How to do the cardíaca massage correctly

Cardiac massage is considered the most important link in basic life support, after seeking medical help, in an attempt to save a person who has suffered a cardiac arrest, as it allows to replace the work of the heart and continue pumping blood body, maintaining oxygenation of the brain.

Cardiac massage should always be started when the victim is unconscious and not breathing. To assess breathing, place the person on their back and then place their face close to the person's mouth and nose and look at the chest. If you don't see your chest rising, you don't feel the breath on your face and if you don't hear any breathing, you should start the massage. This evaluation should take no more than 10 seconds.

1. How to do it for adults

To perform cardiac massage on adolescents and adults, follow these steps:

1. Call 192 and call an ambulance;
2. Keep the person on their back and on a hard surface;
3. Place your hands on the victim's chest, interlacing your fingers, between the nipples as shown in the figure below;
4. Push your hands hard against your chest, keeping your arms straight and using your own body weight, counting at least 2 pushes per second until the rescue service. It is important to let the patient's chest return to its normal position between each push.

Cardiac massage is normally interspersed with 2 breaths for every 30 compressions, however, if you are an unknown person or if you are not comfortable doing the breaths, compressions should be continued until arrival of the ambulance. Although the massage can be done by only 1 person, it is a very tiring process and, therefore, if there is another person available, it is advisable to rotate every 2 minutes, for example, changing after the breaths.

Compressions should ideally be continued until medical help arrives or until the victim recovers, but can also be interrupted in case of physical exhaustion. In cases where there are other people available who know how to perform compressions, it is recommended to make a regular exchange between 2 people, taking advantage of the moment of the breaths to make the exchange, avoiding that the compressions are stopped for more than 30 seconds.

See what to do in case of an acute myocardial infarction.

2. How to do it in children

To perform cardiac massage on children up to 10 years old, the steps are slightly different:

1. Call an ambulance by calling 192;
2. Lay the child down on a hard surface and place his chin higher to facilitate breathing;
3. Take two breaths mouth to mouth;
4. Support the palm of one hand, with raised fingers, on the child's chest, between the nipples;
5. Push the chest with only 1 hand, counting 2 compressions per second until rescuers arrive.
6. Breathe 2 breaths mouth-to-mouth every 15 compressions.

Unlike adults, children's breaths must be maintained to facilitate oxygenation of the lungs.

3. How to do it on babies

In the case of a baby, try to stay calm and follow these steps:

1. Call an ambulance by calling 192;
2. Lay baby on his back on a hard surface;
3. Position the baby's chin higher, to facilitate breathing;
4. Remove any object from baby's mouth that may be hampering airflow;
5. Start with 5 slow 1-second breaths mouth to mouth. The ideal is to cover the baby's mouth and nose with your mouth. In some cases, the baby can breathe again, and then support must be stopped. However, if the baby is still not breathing, proceed to the following steps;
6. Position 2 fingers over the middle of the chest,normally place the index and middle fingers between the nipples, as shown in the picture;
7. Push your fingers down, counting 2 pushes per second, until rescue arrives.
8. Do 2 mouth-to-mouth breaths after every 15 finger compressions.

As in children, in babies, breaths every 15 compressions must also be maintained to ensure that there is oxygen reaching the brain.

If the baby is choking, cardiac massage should not be started without first trying to remove the object and reestablish the airway. See the step-by-step of what to do when the baby chokes.

Importance of cardiac massage

Carrying out cardiac massage is very important to replace the work of the heart and keep the person's brain well oxygenated while professional help is coming. In this way it is possible to reduce the neurological damage that can start to appear in just 3 or 4 minutes when the heart is not pumping more blood.

Currently, the Brazilian Society of Cardiology recommends performing cardiac massage without the need for mouth-to-mouth respiration in adult patients. The most important thing in these patients is to perform an effective cardiac massage, that is, capable of circulating blood with each compression of the chest. In children, breaths should be performed every 30 compressions because, in these cases, the biggest cause of cardiac arrest is hypoxia, that is, lack of oxygenation.