Developing resuscitation programmes in the community: the tasks ahead for the National Resuscitation Council

Anantharaman V
Correspondence: Prof V Anantharaman, anantharaman@sgh.com.sg

ABSTRACT
Singapore has a long way to go to becoming a ‘heart-safe’ society. Given our small size and culture of hard work in our country, we can achieve a state of good first response by our community citizens through public cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillators training programmes at various key sectors and through the implementation of public access defibrillation in a committed manner. For our second-line responders, investing in technology to improve response times and quality of chest compressions with earlier interventions will go a long way toward strengthening the chain of survival in the community. Building on this strong foundation and having a strong hospital-based cardiac arrest management system will ensure that those who achieve return of spontaneous circulation will more likely remain alive and be discharged from hospital in a neurologically optimal state.

Keywords: ambulance response times, cardiac arrest, life support training, instructors, mass CPR, quality of ambulance care
Singapore Med J 2011; 52(8): 634-641