Basic life support (BLS) and even advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) should be an integral and mandatory component of the undergraduate curriculum in all local medical schools’, perhaps for students in their penultimate or final year. Refresher courses and periodic mandatory recertification however is necessary to avoid de-skilling. Simply increasing the period of housemanship training alone ...

Hypothermia is generally defined as a core body temperature less than 35°C (95°F). It is one of the most common environmental emergencies encountered by emergency physicians and was documented as a special resuscitation situation in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) and advanced trauma life support (ALTS) guidelines on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiac care. This condition ...

INTRODUCTION There are inconsistent data about the effectiveness of prehospital physician-staffed advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) on the outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Furthermore, the relative importance of bystander-initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BCPR) and ACLS and the effectiveness of their combination have not been clearly demonstrated. METHODS Using a p...

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...

BACKGROUND Simulation technology is widely used in medical education. Linking educational outcomes achieved in a controlled environment to patient care improvement is a constant challenge. METHODS This was a retrospective case-control study of cardiac arrest team responses from January to June 2004 at a university-affiliated internal medicine residency program. Medical records of advanced car...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Students are exposed to basic life support (BLS) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) training in the first semester in some medical colleges. The aim of this study was to compare students' satisfaction between lecture-based traditional method and hybrid problem-based learning (PBL) in BLS/ACLS teaching to undergraduate medical students. METHODS We conducted a question...

Early institution of extracorporeal perfusion support (ECPS) may improve survival after cardiac arrest. Two patients sustained unexpected cardiac arrest in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) following cardiac interventions. ECPS was initiated due to failure to restore hemodynamics after prolonged (over 60 minutes) advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) protocol-guided cardiopulmonary resuscitation. De...