How One Hospital Is Using a Spotify Playlist to Teach CPR

Getting certified in CPR is undeniably a noble thing to do. In the case of an emergency, it can be a life-saving form of first aid. But it’s not easy to get comfortable with that kind of responsibility. One hospital went the extra mile to help people gain confidence by creating a playlist of songs that have just the right beat to time CPR compressions to.

Julia Reinstein, a reporter at BuzzFeed News, recently tweeted that when taking a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) class, she learned NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has a curated playlist on Spotify that can help students get their hands-only CPR rhythm down. All of the songs have a tempo of 100 to 120 beats per minute, which is the rate people are trained to give CPR compressions to, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

The playlist, called “Songs to do CPR to,” has a total of 47 tunes, including “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, and even “Sorry” by Justin Bieber. That’s right, these songs you already know and love can help you gain the skills you need to save lives.

So what exactly is hands-only CPR? The AHA says it’s pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest. You don’t have to incorporate rescue breaths, or when you put your lips up to the patient’s mouth and breathe oxygen into their lungs.

CPR is done when someone goes into cardiac arrest, meaning their heart isn’t beating and they’ve stopped breathing. Performing CPR helps the blood circulate to provide oxygen to the body. It’s most successful when administered as quickly as possible and should be performed when a person is unconscious or unresponsive.

Whether or not you’re trained in CPR, if someone around you goes into cardiac arrest, you may be able to save a life by pushing on the person’s chest to the beat of one of the songs on this playlist. But before you go singing “Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive…” in your head, make sure to dial 911 first.

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