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Quality, reliability and safety are primary concerns in your professional world—and in ours. At SiTEL of MedStar Health, we provide a comprehensive education and training solution to those who work in healthcare. As seasoned professionals, we have many years of experience in the practice and management of medicine and healthcare, respectively. We understand how training impacts performance in hospitals.
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17
Oct
2010
2010
2010 AHA Guidelines Primer: Part One
Posted by Mariella While
The 2010 AHA Guidelines were recently released in October. This is an exciting time for all healthcare professionals, professional rescuers, and the lay rescuer. There are some significant changes in the AHA guidelines. It is important to begin your review as soon as possible to understand the recommendations. As an authorized provider of CPR and ECC courses, We thought it would be beneficial to highlight key areas of the recommendations. In this multipart series, we will guide you through the new recommendations and provide the rationale for the changes.
The 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC are based on an international evidence evaluation process that involved hundreds of international resuscitation scientists and experts who evaluated, discussed, and debated thousands of peer-reviewed publications.
MAJOR ISSUES AFFECTING ALL RESCUERS
- There is continued emphasis on high-quality CPR
- Compression rate of at least 100/min
- Compression depth of at least 2 inches in adults and at least 1/3 of the anterior-posterior diameter of the chest in children and adults
- Allow complete recoil after each compression
- Minimizing interruption of compressions
- Avoid excessive ventilation
- Ratio of compression to ventilation 30:2 for 1 rescuer CPR
- Breaths delivered over 1 second
- Once an advanced airway is in place continuous compressions should be performed (at least 100/min) and 1 rescue breath every 6 to 8 seconds.
CHANGE FROM A-B-C TO C-A-B
The 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC recommend a change in the BLS sequence of steps from A-B-C (Airway, Breathing, Chest compressions) to C-A-B (Chest compressions, Airway, Breathing) for adults, children, and infants.
Rationale:
- Highest survival rates from cardiac arrest are reported among patients of all ages who have a witnessed arrest and an initial rhythm of ventricular fibrillation (VF) or pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT). In these patients, the critical initial elements of BLS are chest compressions and early defibrillation.
- A-B-C sequence, chest compressions are often delayed while the responder opens the airway to give mouth-to-mouth breaths, retrieves a barrier device, or gathers and assembles ventilation equipment. By changing the sequence to C-A-B, chest compressions will be initiated sooner and the delay in ventilation should be minimal.
- Most victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest do not receive any bystander CPR. One reason may be the A-B-C sequence that starts with opening the airway and delivering breaths may deter people from starting CPR. Starting with chest compressions might encourage more rescuers to begin CPR.
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Authors
Hollie Adejumo
Hollie Adejumo has been a high school intern at the SiTEL Clinical Simulation Center since 2010. Her principal areas of academic interest include chemistry, calculus, and global health. She is interested in providing medical services to the public and serving as a health advocate for underrepresented populations. Hollie hopes that her research will help to reduce unnecessary deaths in the future. She will pursue a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, which will enable her to combine her interests. Proceeding to obtain an MD/PhD will give her the ability to have autonomy in the practice of medicine. This year Ms. Adejumo will be assessing the need for orthopedic simulators, and hopes to begin designing a program for an orthopedic simulator by the end of the year. Outside of school, Hollie participates in a variety of activities. Although she has been a competitive swimmer for most of her life, she also enjoys running cross country and track.
Joyce Donnellan
As the Director of Learning Management, Joyce Donnellan brings over two decades of experience in critical care nursing education and professional development to SiTEL, Medstar’s Simulation and Training Environment Laboratory. She oversees the development and operation of SiTEL’s learning management system. Ms. Donnellan specializes in the development and integration of the learning management systems in complex and decentralized environments. She has extensive experience in education and training, including the development of curricula for both live and e-learning platforms. Ms. Donnellan enjoys collaborating with program directors, educators, and other stakeholders to develop training events and effective curricula. Her research endeavors include studying the impact of online learning on organizational behavior, as well as the integration of educational games into curriculum development. Joyce has presented nationally on e-learning topics, and on innovation in emergency preparedness training. She earned her Master’s of Science in Nursing degree from George Mason University.
Pamela Leonard
Pamela Leonard brings over 15 years of experience in critical care nursing and management to her role as the Director of the SiTEL’s Clinical Simulation Centers. Pam established the first simulation center for MedStar Health and now oversees the operations of several clinical simulation centers in the greater Washington, DC and Baltimore areas. She leads the Clinical Simulation Consulting Services at SiTEL, leveraging best practices pioneered at MedStar to integrate simulation training and education programs into healthcare operations. Pam works closely with Advanced Initiatives in Medical Simulation. AIMS is a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to promoting medical simulation as a way to improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, ensure provider competency, train people to respond to public emergencies and combat situations, and reduce health care costs.
