Guest post by Don Marentette, Director, First Aid Programs at Canadian Red Cross
I am a huge football fan, which means Super Bowl is a sacred event each year. This year I was lucky enough to spend Super Bowl weekend with 250 of the world’s leading cardiac resuscitation experts.
If I said this year’s Super Bowl was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, it would be a dramatic understatement. We were able to use the large ballroom to view the game, so there I sat (the NFL fanatic) with a group of people who at times were more interested in the data that supported new helmet protocols than in the actual game.
I was sitting next to a paediatrician from Seattle who at one point turned to me and said (tongue in cheek), “Have you ever seen a larger group of nerds watching the Super Bowl?” Some of the attendees from Europe thought we were gathering to watch the Bayern Munich soccer match. I had fun fielding questions such as: “Why do they not always kick the ball?” or “What does the 6 mean when they say 4th and 6?”
Besides watching the big game, throughout the weekend, members of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) presented their resuscitation treatment recommendations, which are based on an extensive evidence review. The agreed-upon treatment recommendations will then be crafted into guidelines to be published this fall.
Canadian Red Cross
First Aid programs are based on the latest scientific evidence. Red Cross invests in the development of evidence-based guidelines and international research to inform and shape our programs.
We’ll incorporate new guidelines (a blend of work conducted through Red Cross internationally and recommendations from ILCOR) into Canadian Red Cross First Aid programs in 2016.
Although I can’t speak to the specifics about the new guidelines (I signed more pages on conflict of interest and non-disclosure than I did when I purchased my house), I can share that the people conducting this scientific review are extremely passionate and dedicated to improving first aid and CPR guidelines which will result in saving more lives.
Learn more about Canadian Red Cross
first aid programs.