On Oct. 15, 2015, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and American Heart Association (AHA) released the 2015 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC). The new guidelines are based on evidence-based findings from the global resuscitation community who assessed thousands of peer-reviewed publications.

Highlights of the 2015 guidelines

The release of new guidelines include a number of recommendations to improve the quality of CPR and ECC outcomes:

• Importance of maintaining CPR compression rate of 100 – 120 / bpm¹.
• Ensuring a CPR chest compression depth of approximately 2 inches (5 cm) while avoiding excessive depths greater than approximately 2.5 inches (6 cm)¹.
• Full chest wall recoils when the sternum returns to its natural or neutral position during the decompression phase of CPR¹.
• It may be reasonable to use audiovisual feedback devices during CPR for real-time optimization of CPR performance¹.
• It is appropriate to consider escalating the shock energy if feasible, after a failed shock and for patients where refibrillation occurs.²

For detailed information about the new 2015 Guidelines, visit the American Heart Association website at www.eccguidelines.heart.org or the European Resuscitation Council atwww.cprguidelines.eu.