History of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

History Of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an important life saving first aid skill, practised throughout the world. It is the only known effective method of keeping a victim of cardiac arrest alive long enough for definitive treatment to be delivered (usually defibrillation and intravenous cardiac drugs).

In 1954, James Elam was the first to demonstrate experimentally that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was a sound technique and, with Dr. Peter Safar, he demonstrated its superiority to previous methods. Peter Safar wrote the book ABC of resuscitation in 1957. In the United States, it was first promoted as a technique for the public to learn in the 1970s.

There were some techniques to keep people alive developed in the 18th century, both in Japan and in Europe, but it was well in to the 20th century before Elam and Safar discovered and published the truly effective method known as CPR. Safar conducted research on existing basic life support procedures including controlling a person’s breathing airway by tilting back his or her head with an open mouth; and using mouth-to-mouth breathing. He combined these with a procedure known as closed-chest cardiac massage to become the basic life support method of CPR.

Throughout his life Safar was hesitant to take credit for “inventing” CPR. The way he saw it, he merely brought to light effective procedures that humans had already discovered, putting them together into what he called “the ABCs”—maintaining a patient's Airway, Breathing and Circulation. He worked hard to popularize the procedure around the world and collaborated with Norwegian toy maker Asmund Laerdal to create “Resusci Anne,” the CPR training mannequin. Laerdal now is a medical equipment manufacturer.

Safar also created the first guidelines for community-wide emergency medical services, or EMS; he founded the International Resuscitation Research Center (IRRC) at the University of Pittsburgh, which he directed until 1994; and he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in medicine.