You should be able to see the persons chest rise and fall with each breath you give them along with feeling and hearing the air come back out with each breath. That is where you get "Look, Listen and Feel" for breathing. You are going to see and feel the same thing as if the person was breathing on their own. You are just doing it for them.
Look, listen, and feel.... if you see rise and fall of the chest, hear breath sounds, and feel inhalation/exhalation... or if the patient isn't blue anymore, is now awake... etc. :-)
chest rise
chest rise
A breathing barrier device should be used if providing rescue breathing to minimize the risk of disease transmission.
For an Adult, if there are no signs of life, immediately go to CPR. For an Infant or Child, if there is no breathing, but a pulse start rescue breathing; 1 breath every 3 seconds.
During CPR, the chest compressions are applied; during rescue breathing there are no chest compressions used.
If your are not trained in CPR or rescue breathing then you should not be giving rescue breaths as you can injure the victim. The lay rescuer should only provide compressions at a rate of 100 compressions per minute. AHA provides courses to learn CPR/ rescue breathing which are very beneficial.
Agonal breathing will not support life; rescue breathing (or CPR if no pulse) is required.
When a person has stopped breathing and can not breathe on his own, rescue breathing (or Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation) is given to try and saved the persons live (in addition to CPR and/or defibrilation).
Causes of collapse for which rescue breathing may be needed are anaphylactic shock, heart attack, and poisoning.
Check to see if they have a pulse, or are breathing. If they have both, no CPR is needed. If they have a pulse but aren't breathing, you can perform rescue breathing only without chest compressions. If they do not have a pulse and aren't breathing, you perform rescue breathing and chest compressions.
Rescue breathing is life saving procedure. It does not transmit any serious disease. The percentage is very low and that is not important. You must go for the rescue breathing so that the other person will help you in emergency.
If there is a pulse, then perform rescue breathing only.