Mastering A Skill Essay

Mastering A Skill Essay

When contemplating a skill that most people do not have but could benefit from mastering there are a multitude of ideas that come to mind. As I sit here narrowing down my list I find there are very few that I believe most everyone would benefit from. Being in healthcare I immediately began to consider skills in that field that should be common knowledge. It is with that in mind that I came to my conclusion. In my opinion virtually everyone could benefit from mastering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly referred to as CPR.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a life saving skill; one that most people do not bother to learn because they assume they will never need to perform it. What most people fail to realize is that there are many health conditions or accidents that strike without a moments notice. No one person is immune. From infants to the mature adult, any person can find themselves in a situation where CPR can be a life or death necessity.

When cardiopulmonary resuscitation is performed it rarely ever restarts the heart, as it always seems to do on television. Rather, the purpose of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is to maintain a constant flow of oxygenated blood to the vital organs. This blood flow helps delay tissue death and extends the window of opportunity available for successful resuscitation through other means such as defibrillation. Utilizing cardiopulmonary resuscitation also minimizes the risk of permanent brain damage in the patient. Most people tend to think they can wait on paramedics to arrive to perform CPR on their loved ones or whomever they may see in need but the truth of the matter is that it is critical to begin CPR as soon as possible. Brain damage begins to occur typically within four minutes of the cessation of blood flow within the body. After seven minutes brain damage is often irreversible and the heart becomes less responsive to defibrillation attempts.

Keeping these things in mind I feel it is of paramount importance...