Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is the second link in the Chain of Survival; it is the link that can buy life-saving time between the first link (Early Access to Emergency Care) and the third link (Early Defibrillation).

During SCA, the heart twitches irregularly most often due to ventricular fibrillation (VF) and cannot pump oxygenated blood efficiently to the brain, lungs, and other organs. The victim quickly stops breathing and loses consciousness.

However, prompt CPR can help sustain life during VF. The mouth-to-mouth breathing and chest compressions help oxygenated blood flow to the person's brain and heart, until defibrillation can attempt to restore normal heart pumping.

Your Part in the CPR Link
Once an SCA victim collapses and a bystander calls 911, the next step in the Chain is to perform CPR if you are trained, or to find someone who is. Lay people initiate CPR in more than half of SCA cases in which someone has witnessed the incident. ⁴ It's important, therefore, to increase the number of trained CPR lay people and the number of training programs in your schools and community.

Although CPR can sustain life for a short time, it must be followed within minutes by the third link, early defibrillation. Only when combined with early defibrillation and early advanced care can CPR significantly increase an SCA victim's chance for long-term survival.

Click here for the new CPR Guidelines from the American Heart Association.

For your early CPR Preparedness checklist, click here.