Artificial respiration saved more than a dozen lives. Everyone should have first aid skills. Nobody knows where and when this or that skill is useful to us. Therefore, it is better to know than not. As they say, forewarned means armed.
Artificial respiration is performed when the victim is not able to saturate the body with oxygen on his own. Sometimes it is performed in conjunction with an indirect heart massage.
Methods of artificial respiration are not significantly different from each other. In this regard, everyone can independently master these skills.
The main ways to perform artificial respiration
The need for this element of first aid arises in the absence of the possibility of self-saturation of the body with oxygen.
Respiration (breathing) is a natural process of human life. Without oxygen, our brain can survive no more than five minutes. After this time, he dies.
The main methods of artificial respiration:
- Mouth to mouth. The classic way, known to many.
- Mouth to nose. It is somewhat different from the previous one, but no less effective.
Rules for performing artificial respiration
There can be many reasons why a person has stopped breathing: poisoning, electric shock, drowning, etc. Artificial respiration is performed with a complete absence of respiration, intermittent or sobbing. In any of these cases, the rescuer needs to restore the normal rhythm of inspiration and exhalation.
Signs of a lack of breathing are:
- The face is red or blue.
- Convulsions.
- Swollen face.
- Unconsciousness.
These signs in some cases appear somewhat together, but more often one at a time.
Having discovered that a person is suffocating or is unconscious and there is a pulse on the carotid artery, you must resort to one of the methods of artificial respiration. So you help the victim restore the normal respiratory process. The pulse should definitely be checked on the carotid artery, as on the wrist you may not find it by mistake.
Before starting artificial respiration, the victim should be laid on a hard surface, with his back down. Unfasten clothes on a person. This is necessary so that she does not restrict the breathing of the victim. Open your mouth to a man. Move the victim’s tongue with the fingers of your hand, on which you wrap a tissue in advance. Sometimes in the oral cavity of a person can be foreign substances - vomit, sand, dirt, grass and so on. All this content will prevent you from providing first aid. Therefore, all the same, with your fingers wrapped in a napkin, you release the victim’s oral cavity from foreign substances, having previously turned the person’s head on its side.
From improvised tools, build a small roller and place it under the neck. Thus, the victim’s head will be slightly thrown back. This will allow inhaled air to enter the lungs, not the stomach.
After the preparatory phase, you must decide which artificial respiration method you will use to restore the patient’s respiration.
Mouth to mouth breathing
This option is, let's say, classic. Everyone knows the method of artificial respiration by mouth. However, not everyone is able to perform it correctly and thereby reanimate the victim.
After preliminary preparation, you kneel down in front of the person on the side. You put one hand on the forehead, the other on the chin. Be careful not to let your tongue roll over. If you can’t control it, and it interferes, you will have to resort to an extreme way of fixing. Using a pin, you fasten your tongue to the collar of the victim’s shirt (shirt or other).
The rescuer takes a deep breath. Delays exhalation. He bends to the victim, presses his lips tightly to his mouth. Fingers the nose with a man. He exhales. It moves away and removes the hands, thereby allowing a passive exhalation. Before the next breath, the rescuer breathes calmly for a couple of seconds. Then it repeats the whole process again. In a minute, 13 to 15 such breaths must be taken into the victim.
Artificial respiration is performed necessarily through a napkin or something similar. This is necessary to protect the rescuer. Since both he and the victim may have cracks or sores on the lips, through which the transfer of various diseases is possible. Therefore, before proceeding with its implementation, it is mandatory to put a napkin, gauze or bandage previously folded in several layers on the lips of the person who is being saved.
Method of artificial respiration mouth-to-nose
This option of artificial respiration is useful when the victim has a jaw clamped, teeth or lips have a big injury.
The lifeguard puts one hand on the forehead, the other on the chin, thereby slightly compressing the jaw, so that subsequently air does not come out through the mouth. Then a deep breath is taken. The exhalation is delayed. The rescuer leans over the victim and blows air through his nose, clutching his lips. After he releases his hands and is removed, allowing an artificial exhalation to occur. Then the action algorithm needs to be repeated. Between breaths should be no more than 4 seconds.
Indirect cardiac massage and artificial respiration
When restoring respiration, checking your heart rate from time to time. As already mentioned, it should be sought on the carotid artery.
Not finding it, you need to start doing artificial respiration and indirect heart massage together. If there is one lifeguard, then for every 2-3 breaths there should be 10-15 pressures.
To start performing artificial respiration and indirect heart massage, the entire preparatory procedure should be carried out. Namely: to lay the victim, remove clothes, clean the airways.
Kneeling on the side of the victim, put the inside of the hand on the lower third of the sternum. Do not bend your arms at your elbows; they should be straight. Raise your fingers up, so you will avoid fracture of the ribs of the victim. Gently push to a depth of 3-5 centimeters.
With two rescuers, the algorithm should be as follows: one breath, then five pressures.
Artificial respiration in children
Resuscitation care for a child is somewhat different from it for adults. The methods of artificial respiration are the same. But the depth of exhalation changes. For children, one should not take as deep a breath as possible, since their lung capacity is much less than that of an adult. And it is worth noting that for newborns and children up to a year, the method of artificial respiration from mouth to nose is used.
The rest have a classic. The frequency in newborns and up to a year is 40 breaths per minute, after 2 years - 30-35, six-year-olds - 25.