First Aid Step 5 - Breathing

The casualty’s airway is clear now you need to check to see if they’re breathing. 

Breathing 

What are you looking for? 

Look for the rise and fall of the person chest Listen for any breathing Feel for the persons breathing.

How do you check for breathing? 
+Place one hand on the persons chest
+Place the back part of your other hand next to the persons mouth and nose.
+Check the persons breathing for 10 seconds

Activity
Place one hand on your chest and the back part of the other hand next to your mouth and nose.
Relax and when ready count how many breaths you take in 10 seconds. That is normal breathing.

What kind of breathing do we want the casualty doing? 

You want the casualty breathing to be normal. The average adult takes between 3-5 breaths every 10 seconds. If you are unsure if the casualty is breathing normally or not, check with the Triple Zero (000) operator and get feedback from them. 

You want to look for characteristics of normal breathing that include chest rise and falling, the noise of the breathing (normal breathing is silent), the tempo of breathing, the number of breaths and the strength of breaths the casualty takes.

What to do next? 

If the person is NOT BREATHING normally, you need to start CPR as soon as possible! 

If the person is BREATHING normally, place them in the RECOVERY POSITION and monitor their breathing. 

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