Saving lives safely: Adj Clin Prof Simon Craig on adult CPR in healthcare settings during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant concerns about healthcare provider safety. In particular, clinicians have had to grapple with what is safe, or not safe to do in the life-threatening context of a cardiac arrest, balancing the need to provide a rapid response to maximise the chance of a good outcome for the patient, with keeping themselves and their colleagues safe.

Adj Clin Prof Simon Craig is a Paediatric Emergency Physician and a member of the Cardiac Arrest Working Group that helped develop the CPR flowcharts published today by the Taskforce in partnership with the Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG).

In this interview he discusses:

• Why new national guidance on adult CPR during COVID-19 was needed
• The process for developing the CPR flowcharts
• The challenge of developing guidance applicable to any clinician in any healthcare setting
• What the flowcharts cover
• How the flowcharts will be kept up to date with new research
• Why the Taskforce has issued guidance for adult CPR and not children
• How the flowcharts should be used by clinicians and health service providers