ZOLL Code Communications Newsletter

Recommendations for the management of cardiac arrest have been developed, refined, and organized into easy-to-follow algorithms for both the lay person and trained medical professional. These algorithms establish consistent and standardized treatments for resuscitation.

Every 5 years, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) reviews current resuscitation literature and publishes an evaluation of the evidence. From 2003 to 2005, 380 international experts on resuscitation were convened by the ILCOR to rigorously analyze existing scientific literature related to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care. (1) Findings were presented and discussed at the 2005 Consensus Conference on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC).

A revised set of Guidelines for CPR and ECC were published in late 2005. Significant modifications were made to the existing 2000 Guidelines in an effort to improve survival from cardiac arrest.

This issue of the Code Communications newsletter will highlight the major changes from 2000 AHA guidelines to the 2005 AHA guidelines. Current practices and data from some of the published outcomes for both out-of-hospital and in-hospital resuscitation due to cardiac arrests will be reviewed.