Original articleCardiovascularThe Cardiac Surgery Advanced Life Support Course (CALS): Delivering Significant Improvements in Emergency Cardiothoracic Care
Section snippets
Construction of Cardiac Surgical Unit Advanced Life Support (CALS) Course Protocols
A group of cardiothoracic surgeons and anaesthetists (J.D., S.A., J.J., A.L.) derived a series of protocols for the management of cardiac arrests or critical illness in cardiothoracic surgical patients, based on existing guidelines from Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), the European Resuscitation Council guidelines, publications from the cardiothoracic literature, and their own clinical experience. A protocol for patients who suffer a cardiac arrest was derived (see Fig 1, Fig 2). Further
Results
Eleven nurse practitioners, 8 senior house officers, 4 registrars, and 1 consultant from a total of 6 UK cardiothoracic units participated as candidates in this course. Two courses were run, each containing 12 candidates.
Comment
Numerous pressures on highly experienced cardiothoracic surgeons have led to great changes in the types of clinician called on to attend critically ill cardiothoracic patients. Anesthetic registrars, senior house officers, and increasingly, nurse practitioners are now called on to provide the initial assessment of potentially life-threatening situations. In addition, improvements in surgical technique and postoperative care means that cardiac arrest in the surgical intensive care is much less
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