Performance predictors in advanced cardiac life support simulations

Advanced cardiac life support in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND The Ontario Prehospital Advanced Life Support (OPALS) Study tested the incremental effect on the rate of survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of adding a program of advanced life support to a program of rapid defibrillation. METHODS This multicenter, controlled clinical trial was conducted in 17 cities before and after advanced-life-support programs were instituted and enr...

Advanced Cardiac Life Support guidelines 2011.

The main emphasis in the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) guidelines are in the areas of good quality chest compressions, ensuring normoventilation, removal of atropine from the cardiac arrest algorithm, removal of the use of the endotracheal route for drug administration, and renewed focus on the care provided after return of spontaneous circulation. In addition, the need for monitoring of...

Can course format influence the performance of students in an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) program?

Advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) is a problem-based course that employs simulation techniques to teach the standard management techniques of cardiovascular emergencies. Its structure is periodically revised according to new versions of the American Heart Association guidelines. Since it was introduced in Brazil in 1996, the ACLS has been through two conceptual and structural changes. Detail...

Factors impacting on quality of prehospital advanced cardiac life support

Advanced cardiac life support: what's new, what's old?

Approximately 300,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year. The American Heart Association (AHA) supports implementation of the “chain of survival” to rescue people who experience cardiac arrest in the community. The “chain of survival” consists of early recognition and emergency activation (phone 9-1-1), CPR, defibrillation, and advanced care. Advanced Cardiac L...