MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT: Heart disease is a common condition as it is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Actions that induce this disease, such as alcohol consumption, are common to adults, especially college students. One of the symptoms for heart disease is cardiac arrest, which is when the heart ceases to function. With improper heart functioning, vital organs in the body, such as the brain, do not receive blood and thus do not receive oxygen to keep you alive. When cardiac arrest occurs, a life saving technique known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be performed to restart the heart so that the body can receive blood to properly function. To perform CPR, a series of steps are necessary, and they vary depending on the patient’s adulthood status. This guide provides specific instructions on how to perform CPR for both adults and children, while also providing additional information on how to become CPR certified. The instructions provide details on how to assess the situation before approaching the patient, and what to do to receive additional assistance for professionals. A note should be made that although out-of-hospital CPR increases the chances of survival for those afflicted with cardiac arrest, the survival rates following CPR range from 10-12%. In hospital CPR has a higher survival rate because there is better technology to assist in performing the life saving technique, however, there is still tremendous value in performing out-of-hospital CPR because the technique increases the chance of survival by three times.


WC= 249

READER'S PROFILE I imagine a reader who is a college student that is interested in learning how to perform CPR, but is skeptical of the success of CPR, and if it is worth performing the technique since survival rates following the procedure are so low.

READER'S RESPONSE: I have always been taught through the media and teachers that CPR is used to save lives, but I have never performed it before, or seen it happen in person. However, if the survival rates following CPR are so low, then what is the point of performing it? Shouldn’t a more efficient technique be developed in response to cardiac arrest? I am also a college student and have never heard of anyone on campus having a heart attack so why should I care?

C. Add a figure to beginning about numbers of heart incidents nationally, annually.


So, your last discussion of detail is important: do you mean that for the person who has a heart attack AND received out-of-hospital CPR, their individual chance of survival increases three-fold.

The individual stat is compelling, while the population stat is less compelling.

Can we discuss this further in email? Can you find quotes from experts on this? Important idea. Glad you found this.

ABT statement?

Formal citation?