Follow up story to UK CPR termination article

02.03.2010

NOTE: A recent story in the Lifeguard News referenced a criticism of a lifeguard by a UK review body for failing to perform a pulse check of a CPR victim who was apparently breathing, but who ultimately died. The chair of the International Life Saving Federation's Medical Committee, Dr. Tony Handley, shared the following release by the Resuscitation Council of the UK with Lifeguard News. Note that UK CPR guidelines are consistent with those of most other developed countries, which have been carefully regularized for many years under the leadership of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Liaison_Committee_on_Resuscitation

The UK Resuscitation Council's press release on the foregoing story follows:

Resuscitation Council (UK)

The Resuscitation Council (UK) cannot give advice on specific cases, but can make the following comments:

According to the Adult Basic Life Support Guidelines 2005, if a victim is found unresponsive (unconscious) the rescuer should look, listen, and feel for normal breathing for no more than 10 sec. If the victim is not breathing normally, or is barely breathing or taking infrequent, noisy gasps (agonal gasps), the rescuer should call for an ambulance and start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

CPR should be continued until qualified help arrives and takes over, the victim starts breathing normally, or the rescuer becomes exhausted.

An unconscious victim who is breathing normally should be placed in the recovery position.

Prior to 2000, the Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines recommended checking an unresponsive victim for a carotid pulse as well as for breathing. This was changed, however, because of evidence that relying on a pulse check to diagnose cardiac arrest is unreliable and time-consuming, mainly, but not exclusively, when attempted by non-healthcare professionals.

Checking the carotid pulse as well as checking for normal breathing is now recommended only for those experienced in clinical assessment, namely healthcare professionals