Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Current Review of the Literature that Informed the 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update

AbstractPurpose of ReviewOut-of-Hospital cardiac arrest affects over 300,000 individuals in the US per year and is the third leading cause of death for Americans. Given the extent of this public health problem, investigations are ongoing to improve upon outcomes for patients who suffer cardiac arrest. This review will address the literature that informed the 2015 American Heart Association update to the Cardiopulmonary and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Guidelines (Callaway et al. in Circulation 132:S465 –82,2015).Recent FindingsIn this manuscript, we reviewed the literature that informed the major changes to the guidelines and present a concise review of the current literature that informs how patients who suffer a cardiac arrest are cared for in the pre-hospital, emergency department and in-hospital environment. Additionally, the new AHA guideline on Maternal Resuscitation will be described.SummarySignificant updates have been made to the 2015 AHA guidelines informed by the literature to improve outcomes from cardiac arrest. This literature is summarized in this review.
Source: Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research