The American Heart Association has released its updated 2020 guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care.
The seven-part series was published through the journal Circulation on October 21.
EMSWorld reports the 2020 guidelines “reflect the latest global resuscitation science and treatment recommendations derived from the 2020 International Consensus on CPR and ECC with Treatment Recommendations,” the AHA said in announcing the release. The AHA guideline is considered the gold standard of clinical recommendations in the practice of resuscitation science.
Highlights of the new guidelines include:
- Updated CPR guidelines that recognize health disparities and the management of opioid-related emergencies;
- Expansion of the Chain of Survival to include a recovery link, which emphasizes the physical, social, and emotional needs of patients and their caregivers post-hospital;
- Suggestions on ways to increase the delivery of CPR by lay rescuers, including the use of mobile technology to recruit trained laypersons to assist with CPR rescues.
The guidelines offer suggestions for increasing lay rescuer CPR rates, noting that currently less than 40% of nonhospitalized adults experiencing cardiac arrest receive lay person-initiated CPR before the arrival of EMS.
Some of the new or updated suggestions include:
- Raising awareness of the need for laypersons to initiate CPR;
- Underscoring that the risk of harm to the patient is low;
- Use of mobile phone technology to increase the rate of bystander CPR and AED use; and
- Bystander CPR training that targets socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic populations that have historically exhibited lower rates of bystander CPR.
Overall, the 2020 guidelines outline 491 recommendations specific to adult, pediatric, and neonatal life support, resuscitation education science, and systems of care.
