Emergency Medicine Updates - November 23, 2015 - By Reuben
"It has been repeatedly demonstrated that the use of drugs empirically does not work in cardiac arrest. Despite this, ACLS often feels like an algorithmic march down a menu of pharmaceuticals, one drug after the next, hold compressions, ok still asystole, have we tried bicarb? Until everyone has had enough and the patient is pronounced.
There are three things you can do to benefit your patient in cardiac arrest. The first is good chest compressions, which serves mostly to buy time. The second is shocking shockable rhythms, and the third is identifying and treating the cause of cardiac arrest. The use of a vasopressor in the right dose probably offers some benefit; unfortunately we can’t figure out what the right dose is and epinephrine 1 mg every few minutes is almost certainly way too much.
Which drug is next keeps you busy and is the focus of how ACLS is taught, which is why it’s so dangerous: it feels right but not only does not benefit the patient, which drug is next distracts you from the most important task in cardiac arrest, which is figuring out why the patient in front of you just died, so you can offer a treatment to address it."
http://emupdates.com/2015/11/23/the-causes-of-cardiac-arrest/