The nurse aide begins cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after witnessing a client collapse in the hallway. What is the BEST way CPR?

Head tilt-chin lift is the best way to ensure an open airway during CPR.

This technique is crucial as it helps to open the airway, allowing for effective rescue breaths during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Ensuring an open airway is a fundamental step in CPR to facilitate oxygen delivery to the lungs.

Abdominal thrusts are used to relieve choking, not during CPR. This method is inappropriate because CPR focuses on chest compressions and rescue breaths to revive someone who has collapsed, not on dislodging an obstruction.

While placing hands on the sternum is part of performing chest compressions, it does not address the need for an open airway. Effective CPR involves a combination of chest compressions and rescue breaths, and the positioning of the hands alone does not ensure breathing can take place.

Giving a single breath is not sufficient in CPR. The correct approach involves initiating the head tilt-chin lift to first ensure the airway is clear and open, followed by a cycle of compressions and breaths, rather than delivering just one breath.

In CPR, the head tilt-chin lift is essential for maintaining an open airway, which is critical for administering effective rescue breaths. While chest compressions and rescue breaths are both important components of CPR, ensuring an open airway is the first step that enables the delivery of oxygen to the lungs. Thus, the head tilt-chin lift is the best initial action to take when performing CPR.