Life Saving Algorithms

The most important intervention is to act. The purpose of this life support education is to empower everyone to take life-saving action. Whether you are a bystander, a medical professional, or anyone in between, education will give you the knowledge to act with confidence. The ILCOR’s most recent guidelines emphasize the importance of coordinated care within a system designed to give the victim every possible chance of survival with brain and heart function intact.

This coordinated care starts with a systematic approach to basic life support, continues through the interventions described in advanced life support, and proceeds to post-resuscitation care designed to return the victim to optimal health. These systematic guidelines are presented in the form of algorithms within each level of life support. The ILCOR recommends review of these algorithms and the principles behind them more often than every two years.