CardioPulmonary Resuscitation in patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19. A consensus of the Working group on CardioPulmonary Resuscitation of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology

The unprecedented for modern medicine pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus (coronavirus, Covid-19 disease) creates in turn new data on the management and survival of cardiac arrest victims, but mainly on the safety of CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) providers. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in losses of thousands of lives, and many more people were hospitalized in simple or in intensive care unit beds, both globally and locally in Greece. More specifically, in victims of cardiac arrest, both in- and out- of hospital, the increased mortality and high contagiousness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus posed new questions, of both medical and moral nature/ to CPR providers. What we all know in resuscitation, that we cannot harm the victim and therefore do the most/ best we can, is no longer the everyday reality. What we need to know and incorporate into decision-making in the resuscitation process is the distribution of limited human and material resources, the potentially very poor outcome of patients with Covid-19 and cardiac arrest, and especially that a potential infection of health professionals can lead in the lack of health professionals in the near future. This review tries to incorporate the added skills and precautions for CPR providers in terms of both in- and out- hospital CPR. (C) 2020 Hellenic Society of Cardiology. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus has raised new challenges for the management of cardiac arrest victims and the safety of CPR providers, emphasizing the need to consider limited resources and potential risks of healthcare professionals contracting the virus. Decision-making in resuscitation processes now requires taking into account the outcomes for patients with Covid-19 and cardiac arrest, as well as the risk of healthcare professional shortages due to potential infections.