Ace the Basic Life Support (BLS) Challenge 2025 – Breathe Life into Your Skills!

The correct answer involves assessing breathing and pulse before initiating CPR. This step is vital because it helps determine whether the person is in cardiac arrest and requires immediate intervention. If the person is not breathing normally and does not have a pulse, this indicates that CPR is necessary to help circulate blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.

Assessing breathing and pulse allows the rescuer to quickly evaluate the victim's condition and decide on the urgency of starting chest compressions and rescue breaths. If either of these two signs is absent, CPR should be initiated without delay, as every second counts in an emergency situation to increase the chance of survival.

The other options, while they involve important assessments in medical evaluation, do not directly correlate to the immediate needs in a life-threatening situation. For instance, evaluating responsiveness and pupil reaction can provide insight into neurological condition but does not directly inform the need for CPR. Similarly, skin color and blood pressure are helpful indicators in broader assessments but are not the primary factors determining the initiation of CPR.