ABSTRACT
Despite thoughtful preparation, highly developed technical skills, and meticulous vigilance, perioperative crisis situations can occur and often require aggressive resuscitation. Such efforts may involve urgent but controlled stabilization of a patient’s hemodynamics or respiratory mechanics. However, more hyperacute situations may occur which require emergent intervention and necessitate gaining control of a potentially chaotic situation. Treatment of conditions such as early sepsis or early respiratory failure is covered extensively in other sources as well as in Chapter 9 of this book. This chapter provides an overview of the basic principles of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency cardiovascular care (ECC) for the trained rescuer, based on the most recent recommendations at the time of publishing. There are often updates and revisions to existing advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) and pediatric advanced life support (PALS) algorithms based on updated research. It is essential for the practitioner to be knowledgeable of the most up-to-date protocols and current in his or her basic life support (BLS), ACLS, and PALS certification in order to provide safe care in these environments.
