Timely CPR on cardiac arrest patients with known or suspected COVID-19 should take precedence over resuscitators donning personal protective equipment (PPE), the American Heart Association (AHA) outlined in a guidance update. In resuscitation of adults and children, the healthcare provider is now instructed to give rapid chest compressions and to defibrillate as soon as possible without delay for application of masks or other PPE. “Delays due to mask retrieval may increase the risk of death for the patient from delayed CPR while providing little benefit to the provider,” according to the latest interim guidance. This is a departure from the initial COVID-specific guidance the AHA put out in March 2020, when the pandemic first took hold in the U.S. The older recommendation was that caregivers wear PPE before beginning any procedures on people with known or suspected COVID-19 and performing aerosol-generating procedures, such as CPR, in isolation rooms.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/emergencymedicine/emergencymedicine/95038
