CPR is often done incorrectly by caregivers which can lead to the death of patients in many cases according to a new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. When cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed incorrectly, it is nearly impossible to get the victem's heart started again.

Common problems include not starting CPR quickly enough, not compressing the heart with enough force, compressing the heart too rapidly and giving breaths to the victim too frequently according to a study done by Lars Wik of Ulleval University Hospital, Oslo.

A separate study conducted by the University of Chicago Hospitals found that compressions were not applied quickly enough in 28 percent of the cases and 37 percent of the time, the compressions given were not deep enough. In 61 percent of the cases, breaths were given too frequently to patients. Despite this, 40 percent of the patients were revived.

Among the contributing causes to the problem were poor and outdated CPR training for doctors, nurses and paramedics and instructions that are overly complicated and difficult for users to follow.

'You can't fix what you can't measure,' said Dr. Lance Becker, a professor of emergency medicine and director of resuscitation at the University of Chicago. 'Performing CPR was like driving a car without a speedometer, based more on feel than on feedback.'

Another problem experts said was that education is not proper and thorough. 'Current resuscitation guidelines are not being followed,' according to Arthur Sanders and Gordon Ewy, doctors at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, in Tucson.

'In the past such inadequacies have been dismissed as an education (or) training problem. But perhaps it is not a question of how well rescuers are being taught and learn the material. In reality, the training courses for health care professionals get more complex with each revision of the guidelines. Some of the skills taught, such as two breaths in five seconds, are impossible to deliver,' said their editorial commenting on the two studies.

In order to fix the problem, a new device that measures the quality of CPR compressions and breaths has been introduced. The device is in the early stages of testing.