rescue breathing

rescue breathing

n.

A technique used to resuscitate a person who has stopped breathing, in which the rescuer forces air into the victim's lungs at intervals of several seconds, usually by exhaling into the victim's mouth or nose or into a mask fitted over the victim's mouth.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Any of a number of life-saving manoeuvres in which a rescuer (R1) inflates the rescuee’s (R2) lungs by breathing into the R2’s airway access ‘port’; it is no longer considered optimal therapy for cardiac arrest. A 2006 report in Lancet compared CPR with and without rescue breathing and found a two-fold higher rate of survival in those who did not receive rescue breathing.
In early 2008, the American Heart Association changed its guidelines to include hands-only CPR, a new version using chest compressions only. Hands-only CPR is intended for untrained rescuers and only for witnessed cardiac arrest.

Segen's Medical Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

rescue breathing

Emergency medicine Any of a number of life-saving maneuvers in which a rescuer–R1 inflates the rescuee's–R2 lungs by breathing into the R2's airway access 'port'. See ABCs–of CPR, Head-tilt/Chin-lift maneuver.

Rescue breathing types

Mouth-to-mouth Airway is opened by the head-tilt/jaw-lift maneuver, nose is pinched by R¹ who takes 2 deep breaths, seals his/her lips around R²'s mouth and gives 2 full breaths–1 to 1.5 seconds/breath, allows good chest expansion, average volume 800 mL

Mouth-to-nose Used when there is major trauma to the face, trismus, or a tight mouth seal cannot be formed; airway is opened by the head-tilt/jaw-lift maneuver, mouth is closed by R¹ who takes 2 deep breaths, seals his/her lips around R²'s nose and gives 2 full breaths as above

Mouth-to-stoma Used in Pts who have undergone laryngectomy; R¹ who takes 2 deep breaths, seals his/her lips around R²'s stoma and breathes as above  

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

head-tilt/chin-lift ma·neu·ver

(hĕd'tilt-chin'lift mă-nū'vĕr)

Basic procedure used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation to open the patient's airway. Rescuers one hand tilts head back while other hand is placed under the chin to lift the mandible and displace the tongue.
Synonym(s): manual airway maneuver, rescue breathing.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

head-tilt/chin-lift ma·neu·ver

(hĕd'tilt-chin'lift mă-nū'vĕr)

Basic procedure used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation to open the patient's airway.
Synonym(s): manual airway maneuver, rescue breathing.

Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012