References

Association of Ambulance Chief Executives. AACE Position Statement on the AGP Status of Chest Compressions and Defibrillation. 2020. https//www.swast.nhs.uk/assets/1/aace_cpr_agp_position_statement_final.pdf (accessed 27 May 2020)

College of Paramedics. College Of Paramedics Statement Regarding Cardiac Arrest Management of Patients with COVID-19. 2020. https//collegeofparamedics.co.uk/COP/News/Covid-19/Cardiac_Arrest_Management_of_Patients_With_Covid19_Statement.aspx (accessed 27 May 2020)

Duncan P, Cribb A. Ethical issues in Public Health. In: Jones L, Douglas J. (ed). : SAGE Publications; 2012

New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, NERVTAG consensus statement on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) as an AGP. https//app.box.com/s/3lkcbxepqixkg4mv640dpvvg978ixjtf/file/657486851975 (accessed 27 May 2020)

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Resuscitation Council (UK). Updated RCUK Statement on PHE PPE Guidance. 2020. https//www.resus.org.uk/media/statements/resuscitation-council-uk-statements-on-covid-19-coronavirus-cpr-and-resuscitation/statement-on-phe-ppe-guidance/ (accessed 27 May 2020)

Tang S, Brady M, Mildenhall J, Rolfe U, Bowles A, Morgan K. The New Coronavirus Disease: What Do We Know So Far?. J Para Pract. 2020; 12:(5)193-201 https://doi.org/10.12968/jpar.2020.12.5.193

PPE use when attempting prehospital resuscitation during COVID-19: conflicts between science and ethics?

02 June 2020
Opinion
02 June 2020
Volume 12 · Issue 6

Dear Editor,

Conflicting guidance continues to be issued by the Resuscitation Council (UK) (2020), Public Health England (PHE) (2020), College of Paramedics (2020) and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) (2020) on the level of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used when attempting resuscitation in the prehospital settings.

As discussed in our previous article (Tang et al, 2020), the rationale to use of level 3 PPE should be based on whether the procedure(s) could generate airborne particles contaminated by known infectious substances (known as aerosols). The most up-to-date New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) (2020) consensus statement concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support chest compressions or defibrillation being procedures that are associated with a significantly increased risk of transmission of acute respiratory infections. However, it also discussed the limitation of the review ‘… evidence base is extremely weak and heavily confounded by an inability to separate out specific procedures performed as part of CPR, e.g. chest compression, defibrillation, manual ventilation and intubation…’.

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