If you had a heart attack. Would you want Vinnie to (a) kiss you (b) grab your ‘nads (c) hammer your chest?
UPDATE from a medic friend: If the casualty is not breathing NORMALLY (ie agonal breaths) and he’s unresponsive then he’s in cardiac arrest. You don’t check for pulses, you go straight into compressions. Current rate is 120(!)/min, aim for 1/3 chest depth. It is now considered that there’s enough O2 on board, from patient’s last proper breath, to keep the brain alive. Ideally, if you can do effective ventilations the ratio is 2:30 – starting with compressions, not 2 ‘rescue’ breaths, as of old.
Ventilations from the passerby 1st aider assisting a casualty is likely to be undesirable and ineffective (often there’s vomit etc). However, if it is a family member/friend, and you know how to give ventilations effectively, then giving ‘the kiss of life’ along with compressions would be the ideal. If in doubt, leave it out!
The British Heart Foundation is urging people to forget “mouth-to-mouth” and to concentrate on chest compressions when performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Hands-only CPR" has previously been supported by the Resuscitation Council UK. The idea is now being promoted in a new public information campaign featuring “footballer” turned “actor” Vinnie Jones.
No kissing, just hard CPR.
CPR works for pigs – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22205006
Evidence that CPR can electrically stimulate – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22177000
Medical research doesn’t know what the optimal compression depth is (might be > 50 mm) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22202708