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CPR Basics
As a childcare provider, you are responsible for the safety of the children in your care. This means that you should be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, so that you can assist in emergencies.
These skills are especially important for caregivers who watch children in their homes or small childcare programs because there may not be immediate access to an on-site nurse or other health professional in the event of an emergency. In addition, parents who use childcare may be interested in the provider’s knowledge of first aid and CPR and may request proof of certification.
No matter how diligently you care for children, they can still be hurt or become sick. For this reason, every childcare provider needs to know first aid and CPR. From simple scrapes and bruises to more serious injuries such as broken bones, choking, or injury to the head or spine, it is essential that you know proper treatment and techniques.
If a child has stopped breathing or circulating blood adequately, CPR can restore circulation of oxygen-rich blood to the brain. CPR may be necessary for children during many different emergencies, including accidents, near-drowning, suffocation, poisoning, smoke inhalation, electrocution injuries, and suspected sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
All About CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is a life saving procedure that was first performed in the early 1950s. A hospital patient had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest, and the attending physician began to massage the patient’s heart, successfully resuscitating him. From this lifesaving situation, CPR emerged.
It is commonly believed that CPR can restart a person’s heart, but this is not the case. Shock treatment along with IV medication is usually needed to fully restore heart activity.
However, this should not deter trained individuals from performing CPR on an unconscious or non-responsive victim. Compression of the victim’s chest through CPR can keep blood flowing to the heart and brain until medical help arrives, protecting against permanent brain damage or even death, which can occur in as little as eight minutes without an adequate oxygen supply to the brain.
Assessing the Situation
CPR is most successful when administered as quickly as possible. You must determine if it is necessary as CPR should only be performed when a person is not breathing or circulating blood adequately.
First, determine if it is safe to approach the person in trouble such as if a child has touched an electrical wire. In this example, for your safety you should make sure the child no longer is in contact with the wire. You should use a wooden stick, like a broom handle, to move the wire away from the child.
Next, evaluate whether the person is responsive by looking for signs such as an eye opening, sounds from the mouth, or movement of the arms and legs. In infants and younger children, rubbing the chest can help show responsiveness. In older children and adults, gently shaking the shoulders and then asking for a verbal response can help you check for responsiveness. To check for breathing watch the chest for the rise and fall of breaths and listening for the sound of air going in and out of the lungs.
In a CPR or basic life support (BLS) course, participants practice techniques for determining if breathing or circulation is adequate in infants and children, as well as adults.
Whenever CPR is needed, remember to call for emergency medical assistance.
CPR Guidelines
The American Heart Association (AHA) provides recommendations for the implementation of CPR by both people without medical training and those with professional medical training. In December 2005, AHA revised its guidelines for CPR and emergency care to include changes in the ratio of chest compressions to breaths and the manner in which an individual applies CPR. By simplifying the overall CPR standards, the AHA hopes to increase the likelihood that people will remember the recommended procedure in an emergency.
It is beneficial to know the recommended techniques, not only for the youngsters in your care but for any older children and adults you work with or might encounter in daily life. Knowing CPR not only makes you available to help others in need, it also gives you peace of mind in knowing that you can handle a medical emergency should one arise.
Certification
Given all the changes in the latest CPR recommendations, consider completing your first training course in first aid and CPR or taking a class for recertification. Many states require this as part of the childcare licensing process, but anyone who spends time with children will benefit from this training.
During training, certified CPR instructors will teach you how to administer CPR and will demonstrate the technique with different age groups. You also will be given the opportunity to perform the technique on a training mannequin before receiving your certification. Because of the hands-on assistance offered in such training courses, many institutions do not recommend online CPR training, which does not verify proper use of the compression technique.
Your local Red Cross chapter or the American Heart Association may provide first aid and/or CPR training. Other resources may include your childcare resource and referral agency, childcare health consultant, health department, or local hospital. When scheduling CPR training, verify that your instructor will include the latest American Heart Association recommendations.
Knowing the most current recommendations for all emergency rescue procedures is an important component of preventing injury and possibly saving a life. Because research is constantly validating and disproving theories, it is important to be on top of the latest recommendations and regulations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends that employees be certified annually to perform CPR and that first aid training take place at least once every three years. Adhering to these guidelines will help to promote a safer childcare environment and ensure that you or your personnel are prepared for an emergency.
Diona ReevesConsultant, American Academy of Pediatrics, Early Child Care & Education Initiatives
Internet Resources
Enroll in an American Heart Association course:1-877-AHA-4CPR or www.americanheart.org/cpr.
Contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information about CPR training, www.redcross.org
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