[Update: Not so fast folks! In an article sent to me by Steve over at BB Films, I see that professional divers are being advised to do CPR as usual (with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation). I think the consensus now is that if you cannot bring yourself to do mouth-to-mouth, then at least just do the compressions (see American Heart Association clarification). That said compressions and assisted breathing is best (old style CPR), and with drowning victims even more breathing is probably in order (2 breaths for every 30 rapid compressions instead of the usual 1). For more information on CPR, see Learn CPR or the American Heart Association]
This came as a surprise to me. No need to do mouth-to-mouth when doing CPR, just pumping away at the chest is as effective. From SFGate:
In a break from decades-old first aid guidelines, the American Heart Association on Monday endorsed “hands only” cardio-pulmonary resuscitation - rapid chest compression without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - to improve the odds for victims of cardiac arrest.
The new guidelines, published in the journal Circulation, recognize that recent research has shown no real advantage to conventional mouth-to-mouth CPR in outside-the-hospital cardiac arrest cases. In addition, studies show that bystanders are often reluctant to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on strangers, but are more likely to try rapid chest compression.
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