Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Practice 2026 – Comprehensive All-in-One Guide to Master Your CPR Skills!

When someone collapses, the first step is to check for responsiveness and assess their breathing. This is crucial because it helps determine the appropriate action to take next. If the person is unresponsive and not breathing, calling for help and initiating CPR immediately can be lifesaving. Performing CPR provides essential circulation to maintain blood flow to vital organs, particularly the brain, and can significantly increase the chances of survival and recovery.

This approach emphasizes the importance of evaluating the situation before taking further action. By confirming unresponsiveness and the absence of breathing, you ensure that you are responding appropriately to a life-threatening emergency. Additionally, calling for help alerts emergency services to provide further assistance.

In contrast, leaving the scene to call emergency services eliminates your ability to provide immediate care, which is critical in an emergency. Shaking someone vigorously could cause injury and is not an effective way to determine responsiveness. Performing CPR without checking responsiveness and breathing may be prematurely aggressive and misdirected, as CPR is specifically required only when the individual shows no signs of life. Therefore, the correct procedure to follow when you see someone collapse is to assess the situation before proceeding with CPR.