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CPR Across Ages: A Guide to Saving Lives the Australian Way
About 70 Australians collapse from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every day, roughly 26,000 every year. Only around 12 percent of those treated by ambulance survive to hospital discharge. The difference between those who make it and those who don't is usually what happens in the first few minutes, before paramedics arrive. That's where bystander CPR comes in. Even imperfect compressions, started early, roughly double the chance of survival.
If you've ever hesitated because you weren't sure you were doing it right, you're not alone. Hesitation is one of the biggest barriers to bystander CPR in Australia. The honest position is this: doing something is far better than doing nothing, and the technique is more forgiving than people think.
This guide walks through the Australian framework and the age-by-age specifics, so you have a clearer picture before you ever need it. It is not a substitute for accredited training, but knowing what the steps look like makes the difference between freezing and getting started.
The short answer
For everyone, adults, children, and infants, the ratio is the same: 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths. The rate is the same: 100 to 120 compressions per minute. What changes is how you place your hands, how deeply you compress, and how you deliver the breaths. The only firm age boundary in the Australian guidelines is the one between infants (under 1 year) and everyone else. Beyond that, technique follows body size. The framework before compressions even begin is DRSABCD.
DRSABCD: the Australian primary survey
The Australian Resuscitation Council teaches every first aider a single sequence to use before CPR begins. Each letter is a step you complete or rule out, then move on.
- Danger. Check the scene is safe for you, any bystanders, and the casualty. If you can't approach safely, you can't help.
- Response. Talk and touch. Squeeze the shoulders. Ask loudly: "Can you hear me? Open your eyes."
- Send for help. Call triple zero. If someone else is with you, point at them directly and tell them to call, then to find a defibrillator.
- Airway. Tilt the head back gently and lift the chin. Clear anything obvious from the mouth.
- Breathing. Look, listen, and feel for normal breathing for no more than 10 seconds. Occasional gasps are not normal breathing.
- CPR. If they're unresponsive and not breathing normally, start chest compressions.
- Defibrillation. Apply an AED as soon as it arrives and follow the prompts.
Unresponsive and not breathing normally is the trigger to begin CPR. Don't wait to be certain. Hesitation costs minutes you don't have.
CPR for adults
Place the heel of one hand in the centre of the chest, on the lower half of the sternum. Stack your other hand on top, interlocking your fingers. Keep your arms straight, shoulders directly over your hands.
Push down hard and fast: more than 5 centimetres deep, around one-third of the chest. Let the chest fully recoil between compressions. Aim for 100 to 120 per minute. The beat of "Stayin' Alive" or "Baby Shark" is roughly the right tempo.
After every 30 compressions, deliver 2 rescue breaths. Tilt the head back, pinch the nose, seal your mouth over theirs, and breathe enough to make the chest visibly rise. Each breath should take about one second.
Compressions are exhausting, and quality drops within two minutes. If another trained bystander is available, swap rescuers every two minutes to keep compressions effective.
CPR for children
ANZCOR's basic life support guidelines group children and adults together for compression purposes. There is no fixed age cutoff: technique follows body size. A teenager who is adult-sized gets adult technique. A small primary-school child usually needs less force, which means switching from two hands to one.
The framework is identical to adults: DRSABCD first, then 30 compressions and 2 breaths, 100 to 120 per minute.
For most children, two hands as for adults will work. For a smaller child where two-handed compressions would be too forceful, use the heel of one hand. Compress to approximately 5 centimetres, around one-third of the chest depth.
Rescue breaths use a gentler volume. The chest needs to rise, but a child's lungs hold less air than an adult's. Tilt the head back to a less aggressive position than the full backward tilt used for adults.
If you're alone and the collapse was not witnessed, give one minute of CPR before leaving to call triple zero. For an adult collapse, call first; for an unwitnessed paediatric collapse, the priority is starting CPR straight away because most paediatric arrests are respiratory in origin.
CPR for infants (under 1 year)
This is the age group most rescuers feel least confident with, and it shows in survival data. The framework is still DRSABCD and 30:2.
For chest compressions on an infant, ANZCOR's basic life support guidance for lay rescuers is the two-finger technique. Place two fingers on the lower half of the sternum, just below an imaginary line between the nipples, and compress to about 4 centimetres, around one-third of the chest depth. Two fingers are recommended for lay rescuers because they make it easier to move quickly between compressions and rescue breaths.
You may have seen the two-thumb encircling hands technique demonstrated elsewhere. That's the paired-healthcare-provider technique covered in ANZCOR's paediatric basic life support guideline. It produces deeper compressions but is harder to disengage between breaths, which is why it's not the lay-rescuer recommendation.
Rescue breaths are small puffs, not full adult breaths. The infant's airway is fragile. Cover both the mouth and nose with your mouth, and deliver just enough to see the chest rise. Each breath should take about one second.
Single-rescuer ratio stays 30:2 for all ages.
Defibrillators and Australia's public AED network
For about one in five cardiac arrests, the heart is in a rhythm a defibrillator can correct. Every minute that passes without a shock drops the chance of survival by roughly 10 percent. Public AEDs sit in Australian schools, shopping centres, gyms, sporting clubs, and council buildings, but they're only useful if someone fetches one early.
If you're alone, don't leave to find an AED unless it's right there. Compressions are the priority. If you have help, send them to find one while you keep compressing. Every AED in Australia is designed to talk a complete novice through the process. Stick the pads on as shown on the diagram, stand clear when instructed, press the shock button if prompted, and resume compressions immediately after.
What we see in customer conversations is that organisations often buy the AED without putting the same thought into who knows what to do until it arrives. A workplace, school, or community group thinking about defibrillator placement should also be thinking about who is trained to start CPR while the AED is being fetched. The two are inseparable.
A few honest things about real CPR
Ribs sometimes crack. That is a known consequence of compressions on older adults, not a sign you are doing it wrong. The alternative is worse.
Occasional gasping breaths after collapse are not a sign of recovery. They are agonal respirations, a brain-stem reflex that can continue for a few minutes after the heart has stopped. Keep going with CPR.
You may feel like your compressions aren't enough. They're almost certainly more useful than waiting for paramedics to arrive. Australian ambulance response times average around 10 minutes in metropolitan areas and considerably longer in regional and remote Australia. The first few minutes are yours.
An article is not a CPR course
A written guide isn't training, no matter how thorough. Australian CPR training (HLTAID009 Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation, HLTAID011 Provide first aid, and similar courses) is delivered by registered training organisations, and most courses take less than a day. If you're in a school, workplace, sporting club, or community group, getting a group of people trained together is one of the highest-leverage things you can do for your environment.
The Australian Resuscitation Council publishes its full guidelines free at anzcor.org. Guideline 8 covers CPR; Guideline 6 covers compression technique in detail. Both are written for first aiders.
What FAD stocks for CPR readiness
For workplaces, schools, sporting clubs, and community organisations getting set up, we supply defibrillators across the major Australian brands, CPR masks for protected rescue breathing, and CPR training manikins for practical drills. If you're not sure what your setting needs, call us on 03 5443 2239 and we'll work through it with you.
If your group is thinking about a wider kit and equipment refresh, our Schools and Community First Aid page brings together the supply categories most relevant to school nurses, sports trainers, and community first aiders.