European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2005: Section 4. Adult advanced life support

Abstract

his new section of the guidelines stresses the mportance of preventing in-hospital cardiac arrest. ewer than 20% of patients suffering an in-hospital ardiac arrest will survive to go home.1,2 Most surivors have a witnessed and monitored VF arrest, rimary myocardial ischaemia as the cause, and eceive immediate defibrillation. Cardiac arrest in patients in unmonitored ward reas is not usually a sudden unpredictable event, or is it usually caused by primary cardiac disease. hese patients often have slow and progressive hysiological deterioration, involving hypoxia and ypotension, that is unnoticed by staff, or is recogised but poorly treated.3,4 The underlying cardiac rrest rhythm in this group is usually non-shockable nd survival to hospital discharge is very poor.1,5 antecedents in 79% of cardiac arrests, 55% of deaths and 54% of unanticipated ICU admissions.4 Early and effective treatment of seriously ill patients might prevent some cardiac arrests, deaths and unanticipated ICU admissions. A third of patients who have a false cardiac arrest call die subsequently.9