Health Topic

CPR

CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is an emergency technique used on someone whose heart or breathing has stopped. Learn it; you might save a life.

Reviewed Reviewed by a registered pharmacistGeneral information

Also called: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is used when a person's heart has stopped beating, called cardiac arrest, or when a person has stopped breathing. CPR is an emergency technique that keeps blood and oxygen moving through the body until emergency medical help arrives.

When someone's heart stops or they stop breathing, every second matters. Without treatment, permanent brain damage can happen quickly. If you know how to perform CPR, you could save a life.

The steps below give you a general overview of CPR. Reading about CPR is not the same as hands-on training. Taking an accredited course is the best way to be prepared in an emergency.

Before starting CPR, check the person. Tap their shoulder and shout, "Are you okay?" Look to see if they are breathing normally. Gasping or gurgling is not normal breathing. If they do not respond and are not breathing normally, start the steps below right away.

Call 911. If someone else is nearby, send them to call while you start CPR.

Send someone to find an AED. An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a device that can shock the heart back into a normal rhythm. It gives you step-by-step voice instructions. AEDs are especially useful in sudden cardiac arrest, when the heart stops unexpectedly due to an electrical problem. AEDs are available in many public places.

Position the person. Make sure that the person is lying on their back. Start CPR right away. Do not wait to move them to a different surface.

Start chest compressions:

  • Place the heel of one hand on the center of the chest and place your other hand on top.
  • Position your shoulders above your hands, lock your elbows.
  • Push straight down, hard and fast to about 2 inches deep.
  • Go at a steady pace of about 100 to 120 pushes per minute.
  • Let the chest fully rise back up between each push.

If you haven't had any CPR training, you can do hands-only CPR for a teen or adult whose heart has stopped beating. Hands-only CPR uses chest compressions only, with no breaths, to keep blood circulating. Keep pushing until help arrives or the person starts breathing normally.

If you've had CPR training, you can give breaths along with chest compressions. After every 30 compressions:

  • Open the airway by tilting the head and lifting the chin.
  • Pinch the person's nose shut and give 2 breaths, each lasting about 1 second.
  • Watch for the chest to rise.

Use the AED as soon as it is available. Turn the AED on and follow the voice instructions. It will tell you when to stop compressions and when to deliver a shock. Continue CPR right after.

Children need both chest compressions and breaths. Hands-only CPR alone is not recommended for children. Push down about one-third the depth of the child's chest. If an AED has child pads, use them. If not, adult pads may be used.

The steps above are an overview only. To be truly prepared, take an accredited CPR course and refresh your training every two years. Many community organizations, hospitals, the American Heart Association, and the American Red Cross offer classes.

It sits within Blood, Heart and Circulation and Injuries and Wounds.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on CPR

486 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

Start Here

Statistics and Research

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for CPR, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.