http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CPRCleanPrettyReliable

Noah "Spoony" Antwiller Real CPR looks like real CPR; Movie CPR looks like somebody just kinda, like, heaving against somebody's chest going like, "Live, dammit! Live!" and just like, pounding his fist against their chest.

CPR is an emergency first aid protocol performed on an unconscious person in whom normal breathing cannot be detected. It's characterized by someone pressing rhythmically against a victim's chest and occasionally blowing air into the victim's mouth. In Real Life, CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and, contrary to common belief, is a preservative protocol rather than a revival protcol; its purpose is strictly to keep people alive long enough for them to receive actual medical care in a hospital emergency room;* Not that a patient won't revive during the CPR process, but that is not its intended function its success rate: less than 10%. On TV, though, CPR stands for "clean, pretty, and reliable":

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It's clean because it doesn't take into account hygiene or oral-vector diseases, which can be easily transmitted in the process — especially when using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which is no longer recommended by some jurisdictions precisely for this reason.

because it doesn't take into account hygiene or oral-vector diseases, which can be easily transmitted in the process — especially when using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which is no longer recommended by some jurisdictions precisely for this reason. It's pretty because it rarely results in anything nasty like extreme exhaustion, or breaking the victim's ribs, or the victim vomiting on the off chance he or she wakes up. Instead, everybody gets to look nice and pretty, there's kissing involved, and the rescuer even gets to remove the victim's shirt. This makes knowing CPR a very heroic thing on TV, and can occasionally lead to characters who jump in to perform CPR just to steal a kiss from the victim (or to fake unconsciousness to steal a kiss from the rescuer). On the other hand, the heightened sexual tension can cause issues if the rescuer is not attracted to the victim (particularly if they're the same sex).

because it rarely results in anything nasty like extreme exhaustion, or breaking the victim's ribs, or the victim vomiting on the off chance he or she wakes up. Instead, everybody gets to look nice and pretty, there's kissing involved, and the rescuer even gets to remove the victim's shirt. This makes knowing CPR a very heroic thing on TV, and can occasionally lead to characters who jump in to perform CPR just to steal a kiss from the victim (or to fake unconsciousness to steal a kiss from the rescuer). On the other hand, the heightened sexual tension can cause issues if the rescuer is not attracted to the victim (particularly if they're the same sex). Advertisement: It's reliable because the story demands it. If the victim is supposed to be saved from the brink of death, CPR will revive him almost immediately to show the audience that he's okay. Although real-life recovery rates are less than 10%, note Several factors affect this number. First, many people who know CPR fail to perform it effectively due to panic, fear of litigation, or lack of proficiency due to having taken a class once and never practiced again. The Squick factor of having to break a victims rib cage in order to compress the chest effectively certainly doesnt help those not used to it. When it is performed effectively by someone proficient, generally Fire/EMS personnel, the amount of time necessary for the victim to be found, emergency services activated, and responders to arrive often means that they miss the window in which it can be effective die for real, rescuers will give up remarkably quickly.

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This is a sub-trope of Worst Aid and sister trope to the Magical Defibrillator, another medical technique that works very differently on TV than it does in Real Life. A specific subtrope is Heart in the Wrong Place, which shows CPR given with the compressions too far to the left. For an equally clean, pretty, and reliable healing technique, see Psychic Surgery.

For more information about CPR in Real Life, see the Useful Notes page. (That page is not meant to be a guide for how to actually perform CPR in real life; if someone near you actually needs CPR, call emergency services instead.)

Finally, as this trope involves dying characters, please beware of spoilers.

Examples:

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Sexy CPR has a very titillating way to allegedly teach CPR. Her technique isn't so bad, but still.

has a very titillating way to allegedly teach CPR. Her technique isn't so bad, but still. The Citizen CPR PSA campaign in Ireland is designed to totally avert this trope and teach citizens about how CPR really works (although the statistics quotes about death due to cardiac arrest don't apply elsewhere).

PSA campaign in Ireland is designed to totally avert this trope and teach citizens about how CPR really works (although the statistics quotes about death due to cardiac arrest don't apply elsewhere). The victim in this case not only looks good for a guy undergoing cardiac arrest, but he also looks good for a guy being worked over by Vinnie Jones. Notably, this PSA specifically advises against the "kiss of life" method.

not only looks good for a guy undergoing cardiac arrest, but he also looks good for a guy Notably, this PSA specifically advises against the "kiss of life" method. This advert clearly plays with this trope, trying to invoke a "movie-like" set in an attempt to make it more memorable and probably also correct the Hollywood misconceptions regarding the application of this technique.

This ad from New Zealand is credited with helping someone saves someone else in Real Life.

Anime & Manga

Comic Books

Fan Works

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

Played for laughs in Weird Al's music video for "Like a Surgeon," which started with him thumping a flatlining patient on the chest.

Pinballs

Subverted with Baywatch; the "CPR" mode is fairly difficult to accomplish, due to the steep Guard Tower ramp and the priority of ball locks on the ramp.

Roleplay

Online roleplayers tend to avert most of the points of this, if only for the hilarity of the recipient suddenly waking up and barfing into the other person's mouth as soon as s/he attempts to give mouth-to-mouth. This means it still has a 100% success rate, though, even if nothing is actually done before they try mouth-to-mouth.

Averted in Dino Attack RPG. CPR doesn't revive a patient whom the doctors have just had to overdose on adrenaline, neither does a defibrillator. However CPR in the form of hitting her with a shark works perfectly, and the first thing she does upon waking up is vomit all over the man who just revived her.

Video Games

Visual Novels

Played straight and used to up the (quite bountiful) Les Yay in Aoi Shiro when Syouko does this to a formerly drowned Migiwa.

In Chapter 9 of Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Mila falls unconscious and Kyle has to perform this to save her.

Web Animation

In Red vs. Blue Grif somehow uses CPR to save Sarge from a sniper round to the head, and they were both wearing helmets the entire time. Doc later tells him that was the best thing to do (FYI, he's not a very good medic). Lampshaded when Sarge, annoyed at having to admit Grif did something right and incredulous at his methodology (which he praised Simmons for until corrected), asks, "What would you do if they stabbed me in the toe? Rub my neck with aloe vera?" Further lampshaded when Caboose gets shot in the foot, and Doc responds predictably.

This is parodied in the SMG4's Mario Bloopers 2015 Halloween Special, where Waluigi attempts to do CPR on Wario, and it doesn't have anything to do with chest compressions or mouth-to-mouth. He just kisses Wario.

Web Comics

Web Original

A World Less Visible: Has a fairly realistic portrayal. The recipient has his ribs broken, it only barely gets his heart going, and they have to get it going a few more times in the ambulance. He doesn't wake up until a few days later.

Protectors of the Plot Continuum: Humorously averted in one story , in an incident where a Sue nearly drowned and the agents assumed her lust-object was going to perform CPR:

"Don't be silly, Isaiah. It's not the Heimlich manoeuvre,

Isaiah watched with fascination as Ublaz gave the Sue "You're kidding. He's going to give her the Heimlich manoeuvre? But that doesn't help someone who's drowning! That's designed to help choking victims!""Don't be silly, Isaiah. It's not the Heimlich manoeuvre, it's the Hemlic manoeuvre . My turn for filling in the wrong word!"Isaiah watched with fascination as Ublaz gave the Sue the Hemlock manoeuvre

Web Videos

Western Animation

Real Life