Breathing

Keep your hands on the casualties head to ensure their airway stays open and now checking their breathing. You should look, listen and feel.

For 10 seconds you are;

  • Looking for chest movement
  • Listening for breathing sounds
  • Feeling for air from their mouth or nose on your cheek

It’s essential to check for breathing for 10 seconds to confirm that the breathing is rhythmic and normal. If breathing is present but infrequent, noisy or irregular this may be agonal breaths which can happen after a cardiac arrest. Anything that is NOT normal start CPR immediately.

Acticity: Click on hotspots on the image below

 If they ARE breathing normally:

  • Recovery position could be an option (this is covered later in the course) or maintain an open airway with head tilt – chin lift
  • Send or go for help – call 999 or 112. Only leave them if no other way of obtaining help is possible
  • Check for continued normal breathing

If the infant or child is NOT breathing normally, start CPR.

When to call emergency services

  • If there is more than one rescuer as soon as you realise there are issues with the casualties breathing, get the second rescuer to call for emergency help (999/112). Ideally they will have the option to activate speaker function
  • If no phone is available rescuer 1 will start CPR while rescuer 2 goes to get assistance and a defibrillator if possible
  • If there is only one rescuer and you have a phone available call 999/ 112 and activate the speaker function if possible while moving through the sequence
  • If there is only one rescuer and you do not have a phone available perform CPR for roughly 1 minute before going to get assistance. If the child is small or you have an infant you can take them with you while finding assistance.