Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a relatively new medical procedure. As we know it today, it has it's "roots" in the early 60's. Some of the "earlier" attempts at resuscitation included:

- inflating the lungs of an unresponsive patient by placing a bellows in the patient's mouth and pumping away.
- laying an unresponsive patient over a large barrel, grabbing the patient's legs then pulling and pushing the patient back and forth, rolling the patient over the barrel.
- laying an unresponsive patient face down over the back of a horse and trotting the horse around in a circle, bouncing the patient's limp body up and down in the saddle.
- As strange as some of these efforts may sound, a closer look at the mechanism reveals that there was some degree of understanding, in as much as the "providers" recognized that ventilation and some rudimentary chest compression needed to be performed on the patient. read more here