As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, so too does the guidance on CPR from the American Heart Association. These guidelines highlight the safety of healthcare workers with an understanding that cardiac arrest survival depends on early initiation of CPR regardless of coronavirus infection.
By Genni Burkhart
In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the American Heart Association (AHA), along with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), and the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA) has issued interim guidance on new CPR guidelines that prioritizes the health and safety of healthcare professionals considering the emergence of new, more transmissible strains of the coronavirus.
The updated “2022 Interim Guidance to Health Care Professionals for Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support in Adults, Children, and Neonates With Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19,” was published in the Association’s journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
It's important to note, this interim guidance is not a guideline statement based on a formal evidence review that's gone through the AHA's systemic review process. Therefore, this guidance can't be assigned a "Class of Recommendation." Instead, the AHA considers this similar to a statement on best practices. In their view, as the pandemic evolves so should the adaptions to public health recommendations, local protocols, and resources.
Practicing emergency medicine physician and vice president for science & innovation for emergency cardiovascular care at the AHA, Comilla Sasson, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA stated in a press release, “Based on evolving epidemiology reports and emerging science, the volunteer committee comprised of more than 40 global resuscitation experts has issued new guidance for the resuscitation of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19." She continues that “This guidance also reflects the recommendations issued recently from both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
According to the AHA's own statement, cardiac arrest survival rates have slowed drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This updated guidance includes:
- All healthcare providers that treat suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients should wear a respirator (e.g., KN95, KF94) along with other PPE (eye protection, gowns, and gloves) when performing aerosol-generating procedures or in a setting where such procedures are regularly performed.
- Wear appropriate PPE before and during performing resuscitation that is aerosol-generating, including chest compressions, bag-mask ventilation, defibrillation, intubation, and positive-pressure ventilation.
- Healthcare organizations should continue to secure suitable PPE, ensure training for the accurate application and use of PPE, and make sure medical workers have quick access to appropriate PPE when emergency care is required.
- Cardiac arrest survival depends on early initiation of CPR, including chest compressions as soon as it's (safely) possible. Patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should still receive the best resuscitative efforts possible.
The AHA states that as the COVID-19 pandemic persists and continues to evolve, they will continue to collaborate with professional organizations (as listed above) to provide, "the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidance on resuscitation and supporting the health care professionals that provide these life-saving procedures such as CPR."
Read the full guidance here.
Author: With over 12 years as a published journalist, editor, and writer Genni Burkhart’s career has spanned politics, healthcare, law, business finance, technology and news. She resides on the western shores of the idyllic Puget Sound where she works as the Editor in Chief for the Incisor at DOCS Education out of Seattle, WA.
