CPR Procedure for Children One to Eight Years and PALS Classes in Memphis

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a life-saving procedure that is done when a child’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped which may happen after drowning, suffocation, choking, or an injury. The procedure involves chest compressions that keeps the child’s blood circulating and rescue breathing that provides oxygen to a child’s lungs. CPR must be continued until the child’s heartbeat and breathing return, or the arrival of trained medical help as permanent brain damage or death can occur within minutes if a child’s blood flow stops.

The life-saving procedure is best administered by someone trained in an accredited CPR course from a certified training site such as the AHA certified CPR Memphis in Tennessee. Everyone from parents to those who take care of children should learn infant and child CPR if they have not already. Time is crucial when dealing with an unconscious child who’s not breathing as permanent brain damage begins only after four minutes without oxygen resulting in death as soon as 4-6 minutes are over. Training in how to operate the AED device for the process of defibrillation is imparted in the CPR classes itself. Automated External Defibrillators can be found in many public places and available for home use as well. These devices have pads or paddles to place on the chest during a potentially fatal emergency which use computers to automatically check the heart rhythm and give a sudden shock, only if that shock is needed to get the ticker back into the right rhythm. It is important to follow the instructions exactly when using the device.

At CPR Memphis, courses for both healthcare and non-healthcare providers. Learn more about a PALS class Memphis:

Pediatric Advanced Life Support Classes- The course has been designed for nurses, physicians and all other healthcare providers who must develop and enhance their pediatric assessment skills. Learn and practice team preparation for a pediatric crisis. You’ll learn how to identify the onset of shock, as well as respiratory and cardiovascular emergencies in children and infants. The class concludes with actual PALS cases and a final written examination.

Reasons you may need to perform CPR on a child include choking, drowning, excessive bleeding, lung disease, poisoning, suffocation, head trauma or other serious injury, electrical shock. The procedure should be done if the child has symptoms like no breathing, no pulse and unconsciousness.

First Aid:

1.      Shake or tap the child gently to check for his/her alertness. Check if the child moves or makes a noise.

2.      Shout for help if there’s no response. Ask someone close by to call 911 and get an AED if available. Stay with the child and don’t leave until you’ve done CPR for about 2 minutes.

3.      After placing the child on its back, perform chest compressions. Give 30 compressions and press down the child’s chest so that it compresses about one-third to one-half the depth of the chest.

4.      Open the airway and look, listen and feel for breathing. Place your ear close to the child’s mouth and nose and feel for breath on your cheek.

5.      If the child isn’t breathing, give 2 rescue breaths which should take about a second (each one) and make the chest rise.

6.      After 2 minutes of CPR, leave the child if you are alone and call 911 if he or she still does not have normal breathing, coughing, or any movement.

7.      Repeat chest compressions and rescue breaths until the child recovers or help arrives. Place the child in the recovery position if he or she starts breathing again and keep checking for breathing until help arrives.

Do not begin chest compressions if the child has sign of normal breathing, coughing, or movement.

Get trained in the life-saving procedure and contribute towards the safety of cardiac arrest victims. For more information or to sign up for a course at CPR Memphis, call on 901-438-4200.