How to Tell If the Victim is Breathing During CPR

Video Transcript

"Hi again, I’m Michelle of the AD HOC Group. In this segment, I’ll demonstrate how to assess a victim for breathing. This involves positioning the head correctly and then to look, listen and feel for breathing. The techniques we’re going to demonstrate are the same for adults and for children over 1 year old. First, you’ll position the head to open the airway, place the outer edge of one hand across the forehead, and the fingers of the other hand under the jaw bone, and gently rotate the head backward by lifting the jaw and rocking the head backwards. Positioning the head in this manner will lift the tongue from the back of the throat and open the airway. Next, lean down, close enough to place your cheek above the victim’s mouth and nose and look at the chest. Spend at least five seconds and no more than ten seconds watching for the chest to rise, listening for the sound of air moving and feeling for the warmth of movement of air. If it doesn’t rise, reposition the head and give a second breath. A person breathing normally will take at least one breath during that time, enough to raise the chest so that you can clearly see it move. If you don’t see the chest rise or feel or hear air moving from the mouth and nose, you will need to give two rescue breaths. I’ll show you how this is done in the next clip. Please note that the newest guidelines don’t include teaching the jaw thrust technique because this as well as several other steps take extra time, cause confusion and tend to delay the start of compressions."