Updated Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with Special Situations in ICU

Abstract

In 1966 the American Heart Association (AHA) developed the first cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines, which have been followed by periodic updates. During the past 50 years the fundamentals of early recognition and activation, early CPR, early defibrillation, and early access to emergency medical care have saved hundreds of thousands of lives around the world. These lives demonstrate the importance of resuscitation research and clinical translation and are cause to celebrate this 50th anniversary of CPR (Eisenberg, 2009).