AHA Updates Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.

A collection of Practice Guidelines published in AFP is available at http:// www.aafp.org/afp/ practguide. Providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) effectively is dependent on a variety of factors, including immediate action taken by the rescuer and performance of high-quality maneuvers. The American Heart Association (AHA) has updated its 2010 guidelines on CPR and emergency cardiovascular care to highlight important changes. The 2010 guidelines changed the sequence of CPR from airway, breathing, compressions (ABC) to compressions, airway, breathing (CAB) to avoid delays in starting chest compressions; this remains unchanged in the update. Also, for untrained lay rescuers, chest compressions–only CPR is recommended. This summary practice guideline focuses on adult and child basic life support and CPR quality, as well as alternative CPR techniques. Additional changes from the AHA regarding cardiac life support, post–cardiac arrest care, acute coronary syndromes, special circumstances, and more can be found in the full guidelines.