Basic life support

1) Definition: The level of medical care that is given to victims with life-threatening injuries
or illness until they can be transferred to a hospital to receive full medical care. Unfortunately,
many people get it confused with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The truth is CPR is only
one of the lifesaving skills used in BLS. Basic life support is non-invasive and does not involve
giving any medications.

2) Aim: Maintain sufficient blood circulation and breathing through a clear airway.
Circulation: Providing an adequate blood supply to tissue, especially critical organs, so as to
deliver oxygen to all cells and remove metabolic waste, via the perfusion of blood throughout
the body.

Airway: The protection and maintenance of a clear passageway for gases (principally oxygen
and carbon dioxide) to pass between the lungs and the atmosphere.

Breathing: Inflation and deflation of the lungs (respiration) via the airway.

3) CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION (CPR):

Emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with artificial ventilation in an
effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore
spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. CPR alone is
unlikely to restart the heart. Its main purpose is to restore partial flow of oxygenated blood to
the brain and heart.

4) HOW TO PERFORM:

STEP 1 – DANGER: Initially assess if there is any danger in the situation either for you or for the
patient.

STEP 2 – RESPONSE: Check if there is any response from the patient. Do this by gently shaking
the patient's shoulders and loudly shouting into both ears.

STEP 3 – AIRWAY: Check if the patient's airway is patent. Perform the head tilt (unless there is
any chance of cervical spine injury) and jaw thrust to open the airway.
STEP 4 – BREATHING: Check the patients breathing, do this by maintaining the head tilt and jaw
thrust, placing your face and ear over the mouth to feel for any respiratory effort whilst
observing the chest for any movement.

STEP 5: If breathing is normal, place the patient in the recovery position and find help.

STEP 6: If breathing is absent call for the emergency services.

STEP 7: Begin chest compressions. Place one hand over the sternum roughly in the middle,
interlock your fingers and lock your elbows positioning yourself vertically above your hands.

STEP 8: Start to give a combination of 2 rescue breaths and 30 chest compressions.

STEP 9: Continue this cycle of 2 rescue breaths and 30 chest compressions until either further
help arrives; the patient regains consciousness, or when can no longer physically continue.

5) PERFORMED BY:

 Paramedics
 Doctors
 Experienced people

6) IMPORTANCE:

• Basic Life Support (BLS) is the primary medical aid provided to a person in an emergency
medical situation. This procedure can prove to be very helpful when it comes to saving the life
of an individual.

• It is important to understand that the objective of BLS is not to „treat‟ the person but to buy
some valuable time until the emergency medical aid arrives.

• BLS procedure is mainly used on people experiencing cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.
With this procedure, the breathing and heartbeat of the person can be resuscitated.