PERSPECTIVE
Emergency medicine
Paediatric cardiac resuscitation: can we do better?
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr R C Tasker
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, Box 116, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK; rct31@cam.ac.uk
Commentary on the paper by Tibballs et al (see page 1148)
Abbreviations: CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; ED, emergency department; GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale; PALS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support; PICU, paediatric intensive care unit; RCH, Royal Children’s Hospital
Keywords: cardiac arrest; in-hospital; emergency team
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Over a relatively short period in the evolution of hospital practice, some 45 years, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has moved from its historical position as a new experimental technique in adults1 to its current, clinically pervasive status where we expect all hospital based paediatricians to be proficient and competent in life saving procedures.2,3 In this issue, Tibballs et al from the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Melbourne, present a new development in this story.4 That is, the introduction of a specialist paediatric emergency team charged with improving in-patient safety and providing urgent assistance whenever it is requested—not just for cardiac arrest. On initial reading you may wonder, "isn’t that what we did when we were residents on-call?". In the following commentary we will explore the arguments and observations that indicate the importance of this Australian development.
Unexpected cardiac arrest is a rare event in paediatric in-patients. Tibballs et al observed
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