The correct intervention is to perform abdominal thrusts (the Heimlich maneuver) on the responsive adult who is choking and unable to effectively breathe, cough, or speak.

Key nursing action

  • Stand behind the person, wrap your arms around their waist, and make a fist with one hand, placing the thumb side just above the navel and below the sternum.
  • Grasp the fist with your other hand and deliver quick, upward abdominal thrusts until the object is expelled or the person becomes unresponsive.

What to check first

  • If the adult can still cough or speak, encourage them to keep coughing and monitor closely rather than immediately doing thrusts.
  • If the cough becomes ineffective or the person cannot make sounds, treat as a severe airway obstruction and begin abdominal thrusts right away.

If abdominal thrusts fail

  • Call for emergency help (or have someone else call) while continuing cycles of abdominal thrusts and, if trained and recommended in your region, back blows between the shoulder blades.
  • If the person becomes unresponsive, lower them to a firm surface, activate emergency response, and begin CPR with chest compressions, checking the mouth only if an object is clearly visible.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.