Survival improves with new method of CPR.

• Position: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation - Cardiac Arrest - Brief article

Cutting the intervals between giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and an electronic defibrillator shock after cardiac arrest significantly improves chances of survival, reveal emergency medicine physicians involved in an international study. Chest compressions applied within 20 seconds before the defibrillator shocks and within 20 seconds afterwards boost survival chances by more than half compared to the rates for people who received chest compressions more than 20 seconds before or 40 seconds after the shock, according to findings reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"We've been doing training for two to three years to reduce the pauses between chest compressions and shocks to less than five seconds, and that has improved survival in the city about 60%," explains...