Skip to main content
Medicine LibreTexts

5.23: Skills Checklist- Choking Maneuver

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    70351

    \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    1. Call out for help or tell another staff member to get the nurse if you think a resident is choking. If no nurse is available, direct someone to call 911 while proceeding with the following steps.
    2. Until help arrives, stand behind the victim with one leg forward between the victim’s legs.
    3. For a child, move down to their level and keep your head to one side.
    4. Reach around their abdomen and locate the navel.
    5. Place the thumb side of your fist against their abdomen just above the navel.
    6. Grasp your fist with your other hand and thrust inward and upward into the victim’s abdomen with quick jerks.
    7. For a responsive pregnant victim, any victim you cannot get your arms around, or for anyone in whom abdominal thrusts are not effective, give chest thrusts while standing behind them. Avoid squeezing the ribs with your arms.
    8. Continue thrusts until the victim expels the object or becomes unresponsive.
    9. If the person becomes unconscious, notify the nurse. If no nurse is available, call 911.

    View a YouTube video[1] of an instructor demonstrating the choking maneuver:

     

    1. Chippewa Valley Technical College. (2022, December 3). Choking Maneuver. [Video]. YouTube. Video licensed under CC BY 4.0. https://youtu.be/HMtwmw5Vaoo ↵

    This page titled 5.23: Skills Checklist- Choking Maneuver is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Myra Sandquist Reuter via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.