Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) has realeased an Advisory Statement dated 8th April 2008 in response to considerable coverage in the media with calls to change the guidelines to recommend compression only CPR. The ARC has conducted extensive international review of the resuscitation science undertaken under the auspices of the International Liaison Committee of Resuscitation (ILCOR) and the American Heart Association in relation to compression only resuscitation.

 

The ARC has extensively reviewed the recently published evidence and does not consider it to be of sufficient magnitude to warrant a change in the current guidelines.

 

Accordingly the ARC recommends no change to the current CPR guidelines. The ARC and other national resuscitation authorities will continue to evaluate new scientific data as it becomes available and issue guidelines supported by such evidence. The recommendations outlined in this advisory statement are consistent with those of the European Resuscitation Council.

In summary, the ARC recommends:

• A compression-ventilation ratio of 30:2 should be given when providing CPR.
• Compression-only CPR should be administered only if the rescuer is unable or unwilling to provide conventional CPR
• Any attempt at resuscitation is better than no attempt.

 

The Australian Resuscitation Council continually reviews and updates guidelines by consultation with member bodies and other experts and aims to promote uniformity and standardisation of resuscitation and first aid recognition and management in Australia.