Adult advanced life support

The members of the Advanced Life Support Committee of the Australian Resuscitation Council are: Frank L Archer (Convention of Ambulance Authorities of Australia and New Zealand) Ingrid Bielajs (Royal College of Nursing, Australia) George Braitberg (Australian College of Emergency Medicine) Victor I Callanan and Gordon A Harrison (Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists) Leeanne Grigg (Australian and New Zealand Cardiac Society and Royal Australasian College of Physicians) Ken B Hambrecht (Confederation of Critical Care Nurses) Ian G Jacob (Western Australian Branch, Australian Resuscitation Council) Ole Juul (New South Wales Branch, Australian Resuscitation Council) Richard P Lee (Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society) Peter T Morley (Victorian Branch, Australian Resuscitation Council) James P O'Caliaghan (Queensland Branch, Australian Resuscitation Council) Allan C Phillips (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) No reprints will be available. Correspondence: Dr R Lee, Intensive Care Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010. T he Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) was formed in 1976. Until 1988 the Council concentrated its efforts on the development of guidelines for the practice and teaching of basic life support and first aid. The member bodies of the ARC at that time included all the major Australian organisations teaching first aid. In 1988, colleges and societies involved in intensive care, emergency medicine and cardiology were invited to join the Council to give similar consideration to the area of advanced life support. The guidelines for adult advanced life support presented here are the product of a continuing process and are based on the available scientific literature, including the 1992 guidelines of the American Heart Association' and the European Resuscitation Councll.s These ARC guidelines are simplified principles designed to guide and not restrict management of adult cardiac arrest. Differences between the guidelines of the American Heart Association, the European Resuscitation Council and the Australian Resuscitation Council are inevitable, but the basic message is the same. An International Liaison Committee now exists, with delegates from Australia, USA, Europe, South Africa and Canada, and the development of international guidelines is underway. The ARC strongly encourages research into techniques, priorities, teaching and outcomes associated with advanced life support. In the interests of uniformity of practice throughout Australia, we urge Australian organisations involved in resuscitation to carefully consider these guidelines. If scientific evidence exists for any change, it will be reviewed both locally and internationally.