Basic life support

Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for victims of life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care at a hospital. It can be provided by trained medical personnel, including emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and by qualified bystanders. Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for victims of life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care at a hospital. It can be provided by trained medical personnel, including emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and by qualified bystanders. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) was formed in 1992 to coordinates the efforts of resuscitation worldwide. The ILCOR representatives come from various countries such as United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Africia, and Asia. In 2000, the committee published the first resuscitation guideline. In 2005, the committee publishes International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Science with Treatment Recommendations. Since 2010, the committee provided materials for regional resuscitation providers such as European Resuscitation Council and American Heart Association to write their own guidelines. Since 2015, ILCOR used a new methodology called Consensus on Science with Treatment Recommendations (COSTR) to use evaluate the quality of latest evidences available and to reach a conclusion on best treatments available in resuscitation. Using the COSTR methodology, ILCOR also started to conduct yearly review and publishes updates on latest evidence in resuscitation instead of previous 5-yearly review on resuscitation. These goals are codified in mnemonics such as ABC and CAB. The American Heart Association (AHA) endorses CAB in order to emphasize the primary importance of chest compressions in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CPR provided in the field increases the time available for higher medical responders to arrive and provide ALS care. An important advance in providing BLS is the availability of the automated external defibrillator or AED. This improves survival outcomes in cardiac arrest cases. According to 2015 guidelines published by European resuscitation council, early initiation of resuscitation and coordination of lay people with medical personnel on helping an unconscious person is very helpful in increasing the chance of survival of the victim. When a person is unconscious and is not breathing normally, emergency services should be alerted and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (rescue breaths) should be initiated. Following cardiac arrest, a fitting episode can be initiated which can resembles an epileptic seizure. High quality CPR is important. Chest compression should have the depth of 5 to 6 cm, at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute, and allow chest to recoil completely after each compression. The ratio of chest compression to ventilation is 30:2. When providing rescue breaths or ventilations, the duration should be about one second. The duration of interruption of chest compression should not be more than 10 seconds. An automated external defibrillator (AED) machine is essential during resuscitation. Defibrillation during the first 3 to 5 minutes during resuscitation can produce survival rates as high as 50 to 70%. Placing AEDs in public places where there is one cardiac arrest in five years is cost-effective.