BLS+CPR for Healthcare Providers

Age Categories for Resuscitation

The healthcare provider will respond to casualties based on the following categories:

• Adult – The onset of puberty and older.
• Child – One-year of age to the onset of puberty (about 12 to 14 years, as defined by the presence of secondary sex characteristics).
• Infant – Anyone under the age of one year.
• Neonate/newborn – An infant who has been delivered, in the first hours after birth, and until they leave the hospital. The healthcare provider will not need to differentiate this group from other infants unless they are specifically trained to provide resuscitative care for that age group.

Activation of the Emergency Medical Response System

Healthcare providers (HCP) should be familiar with when and how to activate their own internal and/or external Emergency Medical Response system. A plan should be in place to allow for an AED (automated external defibrillator) to arrive on the scene with the rescuer, or for an AED to be quickly retrieved and easily accessible.

Casualties of all Ages – Two Rescuers

Any time two rescuers are present, one rescuer should stay and begin CPR while the second rescuer will activate the Emergency Medical Response System and obtain an AED, if one is not already present.

Adult Casualty – One-Rescuer

Anyone in cardiac arrest will need CPR, defibrillation and advanced life support.

The lone rescuer should activate the Emergency Medical Response System immediately when they encounter a witnessed arrest or an unwitnessed unresponsive adult casualty.

When a casualty of any age is believed to have suffered an asphyxial arrest (such as suffocation), the lone rescuer should call for help using a mobile phone. The phone can be put on speaker phone to save time. If a mobile device is not present, the rescuer should provide two minutes of CPR before leaving to activate EMS and obtaining the AED. The objective is to correct the cause of the arrest, and the lack of oxygen by performing two minutes of CPR first.

Infant and Child Casualty – One-Rescuer

When the lone rescuer witnesses a child or infant casualty who suddenly collapses, they should immediately activate their Emergency Medical Response System and obtain and use the AED right away. In the case of an unwitnessed casualty, if they cannot activate the Emergency Medical Response System from the scene, the lone rescuer should provide two minutes of CPR before leaving to call.

When activating the Emergency Medical Response System, the rescuer may consider carrying the infant/child if the casualty is small enough, if injuries permit and if the distance they must go does not impact on the start or resumption of CPR.