American Heart Association®
Fighting Heart Disease and Stroke
Heartsaver CPR Course
Adult Module Version A
Please do not mark on this examination. Record the best answer on the separate answer sheet.
1. At a company picnic you see an older man grab his chest and fall suddenly to the ground. You rush to his side. What is the first step in your assessment of him?
a. Open his airway with a head tilt—chin lift
b. Tell someone to phone 911
(9 Gently tap or shake his shoulders and shout “Are you OK?” to determine if he is responsive
d. Check for signs of circulation
2. You and a coworker have entered the elevator in your office building. Your coworker is an overweight 57-year-old man. As the elevator rises, your coworker begins to complain of sudden, severe, “crushing” pain under his breastbone. The pain, which is in the center of his chest, lasts more than 5 minutes. The man denies any history of heart disease. What should y do?
a. Ask if he has heartburn, and if he does tell him to take an antacid
b. Tell him to lie down and call his personal physician to report the problem
Tell him to lie down or sit quietly, then phone 911 immediately
d. Offer to drive him to the nearest Emergency Department
3. Victims of heart attack pain often delay phoning 911, and some never phone the EMS system. Which of the following statements provides the most accurate explanation for this behavior?
J People often deny that their symptoms might be caused by a heart attack
b. Symptoms of a heart attack come and go, so it is prudent to wait up to 1 hour to avoid a “false alarm”
c. If family members are trained in CPR, the victim can wait and ask one of them to provide transportation to the hospital if the signs persist
d. If you phone the EMS system, transport to the hospital actually takes longer than if the victim drives to the hospital or asks a family member to provide the transportation
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 2

4. Your supervisor suffers a sudden cardiac arrest during a meeting. Which of the following gives him the chance of survival?
a. Defibrillation within 3 minutes after the victim reaches the hospital
b. CPR by highly skilled EMS personnel upon arrival
Immediate CPR and defibrillation within minutes (no more than 3 to 5 minutes)
d. Immediate CPR with defibrillation at the hospital
5. You are a member of the emergency response team at your workplace. You are walking down a hallway with a coworker when he suddenly leans against you and slumps to the ground. No one else is in sight. When should you phone 911 or the emergency response number at the workplace?
a. After you check for signs of circulation
b. After you have opened the airway
c. After 1 minute of CPR
After you find out that he is unresponsive
6. Your employer has requested that several workers learn CPR in order to respond to emergencies in the workplace. But you know that CPR alone may not save the life of a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. What else is needed?
a. The Heimlich maneuver
b. Open heart surgery
cEj Early defibrillation
d. Inclusion of CPR training in the curriculum offered by schools
7. You have been called to a nearby office to treat a man who was found slumped over his desk. He is now lying on the floor of his office and is unresponsive, If you do not suspect trauma, how should you open his airway?
Tilt the head and lift the chin
b. Turn the head to one side, then open the mouth
c. Perform the Heimlich maneuver
d. Wipe out the mouth and throat with a gauze pad
8. Before giving rescue breaths to an unresponsive patient, you must check the patient’s breathing. You do this by listening and feeling for airflow through the patient’s nose or mouth. In addition, what other sign should you assess?
a. Look into the patient’s mouth to see if anything is blocking the airway
b. Gently shake the patient’s shoulders
c. Check the pupils and look for a reaction to light
Look to see if the chest rises (and falls) as the patient breathes
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 3

9. You are providing rescue breaths with a pocket mask. Which of the following best describes the amount of air (volume) you should provide during rescue breathing?
a. Twice as much air as you would give during mouth-to-mouth breathing because most of the air will leak out
Enough air to cause the chest to rise clearly
c. As much as possible
d. You can’t know how much air to give until you calculate the volume based on the victim’s weight
10. You see a young man collapse at a party. You think that he may have had too much to drink. After assessing him, you find that he is unresponsive. You send someone to phone 911 while you open his airway and check his breathing. He is breathing very, very shallowly, only a few times every minute. You deliver 2 effective rescue breaths. After you deliver the rescue breaths, you check for signs of circulation and note some movement but still no breathing. How often should you give rescue breaths?
a. About 20 per minute (once every 3 seconds)
b. About 18 per minute (once every 3% seconds)
c. About 15 per minute (once every 4 seconds)
About 10 to 12 per minute (once every 5 seconds)
11. You are providing rescue breaths during an attempted resuscitation of an elderly man. Which of the following statements provides the most reliable sign that you are giving good, effective rescue breaths?
(ji The chest rises with each breath that you deliver
b. The victim’s color will turn pink
c. The victim will start to breathe spontaneously
d. You hear air leak around your mouth or the barrier device
12. You are eating at a restaurant when you see a woman who appears to be in distress. She is grasping her throat with her hands and looks frantic. What should you do to find out if she is choking?
a. Give her 5 back blows
b. Give her 5 abdominal thrusts
(E Ask her “Are you choking?” to see if she nods or can speak
d. Shake her and shout “Are you OK?”
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 4

13. You are assisting in the attempted resuscitation of a man who collapsed in a shopping mall. He is unresponsive, and your partner has gone to phone 911. You open the man’s airway and find that he is only gasping occasionally. How many mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-mask breaths should you give?
a. I
c. 3
d. 4
14. You are providing mouth-to-mask breathing for an unresponsive, nonbreathing victim. Which of the following statements provides the best explanation of the primary benefits of rescue breathing?
a. Rescue breathing helps force air past any airway obstruction that may be blocking the airway
b. Rescue breathing may prevent a heart attack
c. Rescue breathing may help defibrillate the heart
( Rescue breathing delivers oxygen to the victim’s lungs and blood
15. As you enter the lobby of the building where you work, you see a small group of people huddled around an older woman. The woman is lying on the ground and is not responsive. Someone has already gone to phone 911. You go to the woman’s side, open her airway, and check her breathing. You determine that she is not breathing. You pull a face shield from your pocket and prepare to deliver rescue breaths. Which of the following is the most important factor to ensure that you are delivering effective rescue breaths with the face shield or any other barrier device?
You must ensure that rescue breaths make the chest rise
b. You must give rescue breaths at a rate faster than the rate you would use for mouth-to- mouth breathing
c. You must avoid pressing the face shield against the victim’s face
d. You must ensure a continuous pink color of the skin
16. A 40-year-old man collapses at the fitness center after a workout. He is unresponsive, so you send a colleague to phone 911. You open his airway and find that he is not breathing. After you provide 2 effective rescue breaths, you should check for signs of circulation. How should you do this?
a. Call out the man’s name several times and tap his shoulder
Check the man for normal breathing or coughing and scan for any signs of movement
c. Push on the man’s chest several times to see if he responds
d. Open the airway and look, listen, and feel for breathing
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 5

17. You are preparing to perform chest compressions on an adult. After you deliver 2 rescue breaths, the victim is unresponsive with no breathing and no signs of circulation. Which of the following best describes where you should place your hands to perform compressions?
a. Just below the neck on the top half of the breastbone
. Over the very bottom of the breastbone, the xiphoid
At the center of the chest, between the nipples
d. On the lower right side of the chest, directly over the left nipple
18. You are alone, performing CPR on an adult. What ratio of compressions to ventilations should you use?
J 15to2
b. 12to4
c. 5tol
d. 3tol
19. You are performing chest compressions for an adult victim of cardiac arrest. Which of the following is the correct rate of compressions for adult CPR?
a. A rate of at least 150 times per minute
A rate of about 100 times per minute
c. A rate of no more than 80 times per minute
d. A rate of about 60 times per minute
20. You find the office security guard slumped against a door in the hallway. He is unresponsive. You shout for help, and when a coworker responds you send him to phone 911. You open the victim’s airway, check his breathing, and give 2 effective breaths. You then check for signs of circulation, but there are none. What should you do next?
Begin chest compressions and cycles of compressions and ventilations
b. Deliver 5 abdominal thrusts
c. Check for signs of circulation again
d. Reposition the airway and reattempt rescue breathing
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 6

21. You are performing CPR on an adult victim of cardiac arrest. You are alone and have already phoned 911. The victim has no signs of injury. You have opened his airway, found that the victim was not breathing, delivered 2 effective breaths, and checked for signs of circulation. You detect no signs of circulation, so you begin chest compressions. When should you check for signs of circulation again?
a. Do not check again until the patient begins to breathe
b. After 5 minutes of CPR, then every 5 minutes thereafter
Do not check again until EMS personnel arrive to assess the victim
d. After 4 cycles of 15 compressions and 2 breaths and every few minutes thereafter
22. You are performing CPR for an adult who collapsed on the floor in your workplace. No one responded to your shout for help, so you phoned 911 and returned to the man to start CPR. When should you begin chest compressions if needed?
As soon as you find that there are no signs of circulation after delivery of 2 rescue breaths
b. Immediately after you open the victim’s airway and check breathing
c. After about 1 minute (10 to 12 breaths) of rescue breathing
d. Whenever you find an unresponsive person
23. You find a man slumped at the bottom of the stairs in your office building. As soon as you determine that he is unresponsive, you phone 911 with your cell phone and then begin the steps of CPR. After about 1 minute of compressions and ventilations you recheck the victim for signs of circulation. You see signs of circulation. You then check breathing and find that the victim is breathing normally. What should you do next?
a. Continue chest compressions and continue to monitor his breathing
b. Check the victim for signs of circulation again
Place the victim in the recovery position and continue to monitor his breathing
d. Leave him to phone 911 with an update
24. Which of the following best describes the effects of chest compressions and ventilations during adult CPR?
a. They decrease the need for coronary artery bypass
b. They shock the heart in ventricular fibrillation back to a normal heart rhythm
c. They constrict the pupils to help preserve vision
3 They provide a flow of oxygen to the heart and brain
25. A 12-year-old boy is hit by a car in front of your house. He is bleeding from a wound on his forehead and he seems unresponsive. How should you open his airway?
By tilting his head and lifting his chin
By using the jaw thrust without tilting the head or moving the neck
By sweeping out his mouth and pulling forward on his tongue
By not moving him at all because he might have a broken neck
Heartsaver CPR Adult Module Version A 7