Make the scene safe and check responsiveness.
Tap the shoulders, shout, and look for normal breathing. Occasional gasps are not normal breathing.
For patients and bystanders
Hands-only CPR for sudden adult collapse.
No kiss of life. No mouth-to-mouth requirement. You cannot make a dead heart worse by pushing on the chest; the common fatal error is waiting, checking too long, or not using the AED.
The first 5 minutes
Simple steps for a lay rescuer.
Call emergency services on speaker.
If other people are nearby, give clear jobs: “You call. You get the AED. You wait for the ambulance.”
Start chest compressions.
Hands in the center of the chest. Arms straight. Shoulders above hands. Push at least 5 cm, avoid going beyond about 6 cm, and let the chest come all the way back up.
Keep interruptions tiny.
Do not stop to check repeatedly. Stop only when the person wakes or breathes normally, the AED tells you to pause, emergency responders take over, or you are physically unable to continue.
Use the AED as soon as it arrives.
Turn it on. Bare the chest. Stick the pads on as shown. Follow the voice prompts. Resume compressions immediately after a shock or “no shock advised.”
100 BPM
Keep time to the sound at 100 compressions per minute.
This original beat is set to 100 per minute. Familiar 100-120 BPM songs can help memory, but the emergency task is not singing; it is steady, deep compressions.
0
compressions
100/min is one compression every 0.6 seconds. Good CPR feels tiring quickly.
Compressions only?
For a sudden adult collapse, hands-only CPR is the public default.
For an adult or teen who suddenly collapses, especially from a likely heart rhythm problem, continuous chest compressions are simple, safer for the rescuer, and effective while waiting for help and the AED.
If you are not trained, not willing, do not have a barrier mask, or feel unsafe giving breaths, keep compressions going. Do not pause CPR because of mouth-to-mouth concerns.
Important exceptions remain: drowning, choking, opioid overdose, severe breathing problems, and babies or children. In those situations oxygen can be more important, so follow the emergency dispatcher. If breaths are not possible, compressions are still far better than doing nothing.
When breaths might matter
Do not let exceptions paralyze you.
The first rule is action. The second rule is that some arrests are oxygen problems first.
Adult witnessed sudden collapse
Compression-only CPR is the simplest best public message: call, push hard and fast, AED.
Complete novice, any situation
Do compressions only and follow the dispatcher. This avoids panic, mouth-to-mouth risk, and long pauses.
Child or baby
Breaths are more important if you know how. If you do not, start compressions anyway and get dispatcher help.
Drowning, choking, opioid, respiratory arrest
Trained rescuers should add breaths or use naloxone when appropriate. If you cannot do breaths, compressions remain better than no CPR.
Current guidance
What major guidelines agree on for lay rescuers.
Finding an AED
AEDNear.com: know your nearest defibrillator before you need it.
Many AEDs are in airports, gyms, schools, workplaces, shopping centers, hotels, transport hubs, and apartment buildings. Some are inside locked cabinets or locked inside buildings after hours; the emergency dispatcher may know access codes in many regions.
There is no reliable worldwide AED system, and many countries do not have a dependable countrywide public AED map. AEDNear.com is an honest directory of useful public registries found so far, not a guarantee that an AED is reachable now.
Google Maps often misses AEDs or shows suppliers. Ask emergency dispatch, staff, security, reception, and bystanders too.
Numbers
What happens after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest?
U.S. estimate, 2024
~263,711 EMS-treated non-traumatic cases, based on CARES extrapolation.
ROSC
25.4% sustained ROSC in CARES 2024.
Hospital discharge
10.5% survived to hospital discharge in CARES 2024.
Brain outcome
CARES uses the Cerebral Performance Category score; CPC 1-2 means good or moderately disabled but independent function.
Worldwide
Published registries vary widely. Survival after EMS-treated OHCA has been reported from roughly 3% to 20% across regions with good data.
Reducing risk
Most adult cardiac arrests are downstream of heart and vascular disease.
Know the risk factors
Age, previous heart attack, coronary artery disease, heart failure, inherited rhythm or heart-muscle conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stimulant drugs, and some medications can raise risk.
Treat warning disease
Chest pain, fainting during exertion, unexplained palpitations, heart failure symptoms, or a family history of sudden death deserves medical review. After a heart attack, the first six months are a higher-risk period.
Do the boring powerful things
Do not smoke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, treat diabetes, move regularly, sleep, reduce excess alcohol, eat mostly unprocessed foods, and take prescribed heart medicines.
Sources