Basic Life Support (BLS) course

Until an advanced airway is inserted, the rescue team should use mouth-to-mouth, mouth-to-mask, or bag-mask ventilation. An advanced airway (supraglottic airway, laryngeal mask airway, or endotracheal tube) provides a more stable way of providing breaths and should, therefore, be inserted as early as possible in a resuscitation effort. Once an advanced airway is in place, the compression to breath ratio should be adjusted as noted below (Table 1).

The compression rate for all persons is always 100-120 per minute.

Compression to Breath Ratio No Advanced Airway Advanced Airway
Adult 30 compressions followed by two breaths One breath every 6
seconds without pauses in compressions
Child/Infant 30 compressions followed by two breaths for one rescuer
15 compressions followed by two breaths for two rescuer
One breath every 6 seconds without pauses in compressions
One breath every 2-3 seconds (20-30 breaths per minute)

Table 1