These Guidelines are based on the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) 2015 Consensus on Science and Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) for ALS. 4 The 2015 ILCOR review focused on 42 topics organised in the approximate sequence of ALS interventions: defibrillation, airway, oxygenation and ventilation, circulatory support, monitoring during CPR, and drugs during CPR. For these Guidelines the ILCOR recommendations were supplemented by focused literature reviews undertaken by the ERC ALS Writing Group for those topics not reviewed in the 2015 ILCOR CoSTR. Guidelines were drafted and agreed by the ALS Writing Group members before final approval by the ERC General Assembly and ERC Board.
Summary of changes since 2010 GuidelinesThe 2015 ERC ALS Guidelines have a change in emphasis aimed at improved care and implementation of these guidelines in order to improve patient focused outcomes. 5 The 2015 ERC ALS Guidelines do not include any major changes in core ALS interventions since the previous ERC guidelines published in 2010. 1,2 The key changes since 2010 are:• Continuing emphasis on the use of rapid response systems for care of the deteriorating patient and prevention of in-hospital cardiac arrest. • Continued emphasis on minimally interrupted high-quality chest compressions throughout any ALS intervention: chest
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a substantial impact on the incidence of cardiac arrest and survival. The challenge is to find the correct balance between the risk to the rescuer when undertaking cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a person with possible COVID-19 and the risk to that person if CPR is delayed. These guidelines focus specifically on patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. The guidelines include the delivery of basic and advanced life support in adults and children and recommendations for delivering training during the pandemic. Where uncertainty exists treatment should be informed by a dynamic risk assessment which may consider current COVID-19 prevalence, the person's presentation (e.g. history of COVID-19 contact, COVID-19 symptoms), likelihood that treatment will be effective, availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and personal
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