It was surprising, really, when it took me nearly five minutes to realize *why* I was told in first aid training to always check breathing first, give breaths if needed, *THEN* check pulse.
It doesn't *MATTER* if the heart is pumping, if all it has is unoxygenated blood to send around.
(It's actually more complicated than that - but the point is, it was easy to think "heart, heartbeat" and forget the importance of breathing.)
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Date: 2003-05-20 11:35 pm (UTC)It was surprising, really, when it took me nearly five minutes to realize *why* I was told in first aid training to always check breathing first, give breaths if needed, *THEN* check pulse.
It doesn't *MATTER* if the heart is pumping, if all it has is unoxygenated blood to send around.
(It's actually more complicated than that - but the point is, it was easy to think "heart, heartbeat" and forget the importance of breathing.)