Management of adult cardiac arrest in the COVID-19 era: consensus statement from the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Management of adult cardiac arrest in the COVID-19 era: consensus statement from the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. Med J Aust. 2020 Jul 12;: Authors: Craig S, Cubitt M, Jaison A, Troupakis S, Hood N, Fong C, Bilgrami A, Leman P, Ascencio-Lane JC, Nagaraj G, Bonning J, Blecher G, Mitchell R, Burkett E, McCarthy SM, Rojek AM, Hansen K, Psihogios H, Allely P, Judkins S, Foong LH, Bernard S, Cameron PA Abstract INTRODUCTION: The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused significant worldwide disruption. Although Australia and New Zealand have not been affected as much as some other countries, resuscitation may still pose a risk to health care workers and necessitates a change to our traditional approach. This consensus statement for adult cardiac arrest in the setting of COVID-19 has been produced by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and aligns with national and international recommendations. MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS: In a setting of low community transmission, most cardiac arrests are not due to COVID-19. Early defibrillation saves lives and is not considered an aerosol generating procedure. Compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation is thought to be a low risk procedure and can be safely initiated with the patient's mouth and nose covered. All other resuscitative procedures are considered aerosol generating and require the use of airborne personal protective equipment ...
Source: Medical Journal of Australia - Category: General Medicine Tags: Med J Aust Source Type: research