Adult Ventilation Techniques

Breaths should be given with a pocket mask whenever available in one-rescuer CPR.

1. Deliver 30 high-quality chest compressions.
2. To secure the mask on the patient’s face, place four fingers of one hand along the mask’s top, with the other hand’s thumb on the bottom edge (Figure 5a).
3. Use the head-tilt/chin-lift maneuver to open the airway, but do not attempt this if the patient is suspected to have a neck injury. If a cervical injury is suspected, consider alternative methods (Figure 5b).
4. Press the edges of the mask with strength and deliver a breath that lasts more than one second while observing the rise in the patient’s chest (Figure 5c).
5. If there is disinterest in providing ventilation (because of an airborne illness suspicion),
   hands-only CPR would be an equivalent option.

When the bag-mask device is available and two people are around, the second rescuer must be at the patient’s head while the first rescuer delivers high-quality chest compressions.

1. Count out loud while delivering the chest compressions to avoid losing count (Figure 6a).
2. The first rescuer should open the airway by raising the patient’s lower jaw, while the second rescuer secures the bag-mask by using his or her index finger and thumb and shaping it in a “C” on a single side of the mask to properly seal the mask and the face (Figure 6b).
3. The second rescuer then gives two breaths; each breath must last more than one second as you watch the person’s chest rise (Figure 6c).
4. The bag valve mask is crucial in creating a tight seal; practice this technique.