Finally, the American Heart Association released the official new guidelines for CPR, which place more emphasis on chest compressions, less on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Why the change? The yick factor is one reason. No one knows how many people might have been saved during cardiac arrest if bystanders hadn't been discouraged because they were hesitant to do mouth-to-mouth. In the new scheme, mouth-to-mouth takes place after you've done 100 chest compressions. By that time you might have help or someone might have brought you an AED to use.
Second, it seems from two recent studies--one from JAMA, one in The Lancet--that survival may be better after this type of CPR than the older type, as reported today by MedPageToday. This work builds on older studies. This change has been coming for awhile.
The AHA posted this video on YouTube. One thing you should know--the narrator says that you should do 100 compressions per minute, and that each compression should push the chest (the sternum, really) down two inches. That takes a lot of energy. Remember from your old CPR training--get up and straight over the person so that your shoulders, arms, and the person's chest form a straight line. Use your body weight to do some of the work. Don't lean back and don't bend your elbows. Oh, and don't forget to hum the BeeGees tune Stayin' Alive to maintain the appropriate pace of compressions. This is not a joke.