1998 European guidelines on resuscitation

Simplifications should make them easier to teach and implement

Papers pp 1863, 1870

After a cardiac arrest the only interventions that have been proved to improve long term survival are basic life support and early defibrillation. They thus remain the focus of the most recent — and most internationally supported — set of guidelines on basic and advanced life support, published this week in the BMJ (pp 1863, 1870) 1 2 and Resuscitation. 3 4 The new guidelines contain changes which are a response to the educational needs and evolving technology of resuscitation rather than to any important changes in its science.

Collaboration between experts from several European countries resulted in publication of the first European Resuscitation Council guidelines in 1992. 5 6 In the same year the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation was formed (with representation from North America, Europe, Southern Africa, Australia, and Latin America) with the aim of providing a consensus mechanism by which international science relevant to emergency cardiac care could be identified and reviewed. The advisory statements published by the international liaison committee in 19977 were introduced immediately into the United Kingdom by the Resuscitation Council (UK). The …