Taipei City Fire Department

Choking Rescue Response

I. Learning Objectives

First aid for choking

First aid for choking adult and child

II. Choking Rescue Response

The choking person is conscious:

1. Partially blocked airway: Encourage coughing and heavy breathing

2. Seriously blocked airway: Try abdominal thrusts

The choking person is unconscious:

1. Try chest compression

III. Choking Rescue Response 1

The choking person is conscious:

If the choking person is coughing forcefully due to partially-blocked airway, do not interfere with his/her self-induced coughing and breathing.

IV. Choking Rescue Response 2-1

The choking person is conscious:

If a person shows the following symptoms of a seriously blocked airway:

*  Coughing weakly or stopped coughing

*  Developing breathing difficulties

*  Stopped breathing

*  Making high-pitched noises when inhaling (wheezing noises)

*  Skin becoming greenish-blue, unable to speak, or the body is becoming limp

*  Clutching the neck with both hands

You should act at once!

V. Choking Rescue Response 2-2

The choking person is conscious:

1. Ask the person: “Are you choking?”

2. If the person nods his/her head or cannot respond verbally, stand behind the person with one leg lunging forward.

3.  Make a fist with one hand (the thumb and the forefinger face the choking person’s abdomen) and place it against the center of the person’s upper abdomen, slightly above the navel; grab the fist with your other hand.

4.  Give quick, upward thrusts into the abdomen repeatedly.

VI. Choking Rescue Response 3-1

The choking person is unconscious:

If the object cannot be cleared out of the airway and the person is unconsciously collapsing on the rescurer:

1. In a lunge stance, move the leg behind backward; quickly but carefully lay the choking person down on the floor, facing upward.

(If the heart stops beating, follow the procedure of basic first aid till the step below. If the situation is similar, suspect the person is choking and give him/her the same treatment at once).

2. Tilt the person’s head back and lift the chin to open the airway. If you see an object in the person’s mouth, remove it with your finger.

3. If the object is removed or you do not see an object, give one rescue breath. 

4. If the breath cannot go in or the chest does not rise, re-open the airway and give another rescue breath. Pinch the nose shut with your thumb and forefinger when giving rescue breaths (perform chest compressions if you prefer not to give rescue breaths).

5. If the breath still cannot go in or the chest still does not rise, give 30 chest compressions (at a speed of about 100 compressions per minute). Meanwhile, visually check if any foreign object is discharged or if the airway obstruction is released.

6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 until the obstruction is removed, or send the person to the hospital immediately after repeating the cycle 5 times or 2 minutes.

VII. Rescue for a pregnant or large choking person

VIII. Rescue for a choking child

Follow the same steps for adults; however, give abdominal thrusts with only one hand for smaller children.

IX. Rescue for a choking infant

Give back blows and chest thrusts (5 times each) until the object is forced out.