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Discussion

CAB or ABC?

I have gone my entire nursing school career (over a year) thinking that in CPR you are supposed to prioritize airway, then circulation, the breathing (ABC). I got a couple of test questions wrong on that, and the rationals in the review said it has changed to circulation, airway, breathing (CAB). So that means that you would start compressions before you even made sure the person didn't have a blocked airway. To me, that doesn't make sense. Is CAB the way everyone else has been taught as well?

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    • Featured Replies

    Have you not taken a BLS for healthcare provider course? The AHA has taught CAB for several years.

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    There's even compression only CPR. Mostly to encourage people who are unwilling to do mouth to mouth to do something, but compressions seem to be the most important.

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    • Admin

    It doesn't matter if a person is getting oxygen or not if the blood isn't carrying it. What has been found is that too much time is wasted checking the airway when that circulating blood is what is needed most.

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    • Author

    I've taken 2 CPR classes now, and I can't believe I missed this! At least I know now. Thank you guys for clearing this up for me!

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    I think they switched to CAB in 2012 or 2013

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    As others have mentioned, AHA is teaching CAB now. They do still teach ABC for the assessment you do immediately beforehand though.

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    Think about this. Unless you saw someone choking, if they are unconscious, likely they have either no pulse or an ineffective pulse.

    Giving breaths will not help them to get a pulse back. Starting with compressions will begin to restore ciruclation. And as others have stated, outside the hospital, sometimes it is hands only.

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    The CAB switch was in the 2010 update. As others have stated, outside of CPR, the rapid assessment order remains ABC(DEFG...)

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