What is the standard of care for a patient in cardiac arrest?
At present, a great deal of controversy exists regarding the standard of care. For some time, it was believed that the more rapidly the patient received care in the form of a defibrillator, the more likely they were to survive. But recent studies have brought this standard of care into question and have suggested that a period of CPR prior to the first use of a defibrillator may improve the likelihood that some patients will survive. At present, the American Heart Association describes both as a standard of care and encourages the development of defibrillators whose computer algorithms might better distinguish which patients are best served by each of these standards.
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- What is the standard of care for a patient in cardiac arrest?
