Providing Mouth to Mouth Resuscitation

Most of us are probably familiar with CPR. CPR means Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. This is a procedure done to revive a person who has no breathing and no pulse. In other words, this is a lifesaving procedure that will perhaps bring a person back to life.

It is obvious that such procedure can only be provided when the victim has no breathing and has no pulse, thus the need to provide CPR.

However, there are circumstances that the patient may have a pulse. When the pulse is present, the heart is functioning. When the heart is functioning and there is no breathing, then rescue breathing is the only thing that must be provided.

Commonly this procedure is called mouth to mouth resuscitation. Mouth to mouth resuscitation is provided by means of blowing air into the victim or patients mouth. This will eventually provide the victim with the much needed oxygen in respiratory arrest cases. As you can see, when people stop breathing, the brain will not received oxygen. When this happens, the brain will eventually suffer damage and often this damages cannot be reversed. Providing mouth to mouth resuscitation to a victim can certainly help while the emergency medical services has not arrived yet. Often ambulance responders will arrive in 5 minutes time. A person without breathing in more than 4 minutes may suffer brain damage.

Most people are wondering if the air we exhale is capable of providing oxygen to a victim. Well, the air that we inhale contains around 21% oxygen. As we breath in, only 5% of the 21% is being utilized by our system. Thus, our exhaled air still contains enough oxygen for mouth to mouth resuscitation.

Mouth to mouth resuscitation however requires basic training. This is usually incorporated on Basic Life Support Course (CPR) and is often available in any area.