Updates of the ACLS Guidelines 2015. A Historical Comparison

Literature Review from the year 2017 in the subject Medicine - Hospital Environment, Clinical Medicine, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: Over the years, the American Heart Association has made outstanding contributions and numerous improvements to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support guidelines. It is due to adequate use of resources and continuous research that millions of lives are saved in the United States. Such guidelines serve health care providers and other members of the healthcare team as a resource to ensure adequate and timely response to those individuals who experience cardiac or respiratory arrest.

However, according to AHA statistics, "More than 326,000 people in the US suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year. Statistics prove that if more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved" (American Heart Association, 2016). In other words, dissemination of knowledge on the matter has direct outcomes on increasing survival rates. Therefore, the guidelines and the implementation methods are on continuous review based on new evidence. It is important to provide those who suffer cardiac or respiratory arrest with timely services because delays could end up affecting the outcome of those who experience reversible damage.

Healthcare providers around the world have become informed on the benefits of updated competence and direct patient outcomes and quality of care. The American Heart Association has published the new 2015 cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines, where changes and updates are reflected in an effort to put the best available evidence in practice. The purpose of this review is to compare the 2015 AHA updates with historical evidence in an attempt to explicate the implications and limitations of pharmacology in advanced cardiac life support.