Resuscitation Guidelines 2005 ...

Date of publication and impact on training

The American Heart Association and the European Resuscitation Council have brought forward the date of posting the electronic version of their respective Guidelines to 28 November 2005. This is the same day that the 2005 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Science and Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR2005) document will be published in Resuscitation and Circulation . The electronic version of the Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines will now also be available on 28 November. The printed version will be available from 13 December.

Several of the treatment recommendations in the new guidelines represent significant changes in the way resuscitation is delivered. It will take time, however, for courses and training materials to be updated and for these changes in practice to be disseminated to healthcare professionals and laypeople by resuscitation trainers. As the transition is made there will inevitably be some variation in practice between individuals and healthcare organisations.

The Resuscitation Council (UK) is not imposing a moratorium on its courses. We think it is important that training is continued right up until the new material is available. In our opinion, to stop providing training in the belief that something ‘wrong' might be taught is not in the best interests of healthcare staff, patients or victims of cardiac arrest out of hospital.

The publication of new treatment recommendations does not imply that current clinical care is either unsafe or ineffective and the updated guidelines do not define the only way that resuscitation should be achieved; they merely represent a widely accepted view of how resuscitation can be undertaken both safely and effectively.