European Resuscitation Council guidelines for resuscitation 2005. Section 4. Adult advanced life support.
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Airway Obstruction↗
Biomedical subjects
Jasmeet Soar
Publications and source records attributed to Jasmeet Soar.
The immediate life support course.
The immediate life support course (ILS) was launched by the Resuscitation Council (UK) in January 2002. This multi-professional 1-day resuscitation course teaches the essential knowledge and skills required to manage a patient in cardiac arrest for the short time before the arrival of a cardiac arrest team or other experienced medical assistance. The ILS course also introduces healthcare professionals to the role of a cardiac arrest team member. The course provides the candidate with the knowledge and skills to recognise and treat the acutely ill patient before cardiac arrest, to manage the airway with basic techniques, and to provide rapid, safe defibrillation using either manual or automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The course includes lectures, skill stations and cardiac arrest scenarios. The ILS course has standardised much of the life support training that already takes place in UK hospitals. In 2002, 16547 candidates attended ILS courses in 128 course centres. In this article, we discuss the rationale for, and the development and structure of the ILS course. We also present the first year's results and discuss possible future developments. It is hoped that this course may become established in counties in continental Europe through the European Resuscitation Council.
Advanced Cardiac Life Support↗
Do nurses and physiotherapists require training to use an automated external defibrillator?
Healthcare staff with the duty to perform CPR should also be capable of using an automated external defibrillator (AED). We investigate whether nurses and physiotherapists can use an AED without prior training. Subjects were tested on a manikin during a cardiac arrest scenario. All 15 untrained subjects could deliver a shock with an AED in 68.8+/-29.2 s (time+/-S.D., range, 40-169 s). Most failed to position the pads correctly (53%) or follow correct safety procedures (67%). After a standardised training session, the time to deliver a shock improved significantly to 48.5+/-5.5 s (range, 41-61 s, P<0.01) and all subjects placed the pads correctly and followed a safe defibrillation procedure. This study shows that nurses and physiotherapists, with no previous AED training, can deliver a shock with an AED. Training improves speed of shock delivery, correct pad placement and safety. This study suggests that it is feasible to train healthcare professionals to use an AED with relatively little training. This should allow rapid deployment of AEDs in those areas of the hospital where cardiac arrests are infrequent and staff do not have rhythm recognition skills.
Education, Nursing, Continuing↗