Bystander CPR

When it comes to saving lives, even a little bit goes a long way.

In this case doing something is better than doing nothing and even a little bit of help can save a life.

This is especially true when it comes to bystander CPR. If someone collapses in front of your from a cardiac arrest, just doing chest compressions alone can go a long way toward keeping them alive.

CPR in the past meant trying to coordinate pushing on the chest along with breaking for them through mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths. But over the years, researchers have found that when someone collapsed on the street, this type of CPR wasn't always done. Sometimes it was because people around the victim didn't know "proper" CPR techniques and other times they hesitated because of health concerns over doing mouth-to-mouth breathing. And sometimes it was done but wasn't always done correctly.

A new study has found that just pushing on the chest alone, even without the mouth-to-mouth breathing, can keep a person alive and keep their brain functioning well, especially if it's followed by the use of an easy to use AED device.

As a matter of fact, researchers found that just giving chest compressions alone kept more victims alive than traditional CPR. Since 2008 the American Heart Association has recommended chest compressions by themselves as the initial step for most of us and this study backs that up. So if someone collapses in front of you, experts now recommend to just start pushing hard and fast on their chest. That'll give them the best chance of staying alive.