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Joseph A. Stirt, MD; Leonard F. Walts, MD
UCLA School of Medicine Los Angeles

JAMA. 1983;249(14):1827.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The rate of cardiac compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been prescribed in published standards.¹ A rescuer working alone is told to compress the chest at a rate of 80 compressions per minute, for a total of 15 compressions, before giving two breaths. When two rescuers are working together, the suggested compression rate is 60 beats per minute. To help the rescuers maintain these rates, they are taught to count aloud. At the more rapid rate, the rescuer enunciates: "1 and 2 and 3...." When two work together, one calls out, "1, 1,000; 2, 1,000; 3, 1,000...."

Under the best of circumstances, trained rescuers can accurately keep the proper cadence and compress at rates close to ideal. However, at the site of rescue, this is often not so. We have observed rescuers compressing the chest at almost twice the ideal rate early in resuscitations. If spontaneous . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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