CARDIAC FIRST RESPONSE

Out-of-Hospital cardiac arrest remains one of the leading causes of death in Europe. In Ireland, it is estimated that approximately 5000 people die each year from sudden cardiac death. Survival from cardiac arrest is known to depend on a number of factors, among them the quality of the CPR provided as well as the validity of the treatment guidelines and a well functioning chain of survival.

Since the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) published their revised guidelines in October 2010, PHECC set about revisiting clinical practice guidelines and the Cardiac First Response Standard to incorporate the changes in basic life support. The result was 2 new CFR courses called CFR Community and CFR Advanced. The work undertaken by Mark Dixon, Academy of Emergency Medical Education, University of Limerick is gratefully acknowledged.

CFR Online update To support the roll out oft hese two courses, PHECC designed an online update course for existing CFR Instructors. SinceAugust, a total of 1424 CFR Instructorssuccessfully registered and completed the online course.For anyone who has yetto complete the update, please login and registerwith PHECC’s Online Academy at http://elearning.phecit.ie/PHECC/lr_login.jsp

CFR Instructor Survey PHECC plans to survey all CFR Instructors in early 2012.Instructors who participated in the online update will be invitedby email, to participate in a survey, to evaluate the quality of the CFR training products and courses. Recognised Institutions There are now a total of 40 recognised institutionsdelivering CFR Advanced and or CFR Community courses in Ireland.

CFR Training material. A new set of course material was developed to support the delivery of the new CFR courses. This includes a DVD led course, an Instructor Manual and a Student Handbook. These products are available to purchase from recognised institutions (or OFAAA) orcan be purchased directly from our website using PayPal. New CFR Community Online course. This online course remains in development and when completed it will be available through participating recognised institutions. The online course has 3 sections – theory, knowledge test and simulations. Licensed users/students will access the course on any internet enabled PC and present at a designated recognised institution for assessment and certification. More about this product later in 2012.

CFR and registered nurses and mid-wives.

Last December, PHECC successfully applied to An Bord Altranais for Category 1 approval with the continuing education units(CEUs) for CFR courses as outlined:

Name of course	Course Grouping	Approved from/to	Continuing Education Units
Cardiac First Response Advanced	1	7 December 2011-  7 December 2012	5
Cardiac First Response Community	1	7 December 2011-  7 December 2012	5

Category 1 approval applies to programmes that support continued professional and practice development for registered nurses and mid-wives. Recognised Institutions are reminded to promote Category 1 approval and CEUs to current and prospective course participants (nurses and midwives).

CFR and registered medical practitioners

CFR and registeredmedical practitioners. In January, PHECC successfully applied to the Irish College ofGeneral Practitioners(ICGP) for CPDexternalcreditsfor 2012 as outlined:

Titles	Dates of Approval	GMS Study Leave Sessions Approved	Leave External CPD Credits Approved
Cardiac First Response Advanced	13/01/12	2	6
Cardiac First Response Community	13/01/12	1	4

CFR and PHECC registered practitioners

PHECC will commence the first 3 year cycle of continuous professional competence (CPC)for practitioners during 2012. The full details of CPC will be communicated separately to registrants; however, it is important here to highlight the important role of CFR certification for practitioners going forward. Maintaining CFR Advanced level certification (every 2 years) and participating in CFR refresher training (every other year)will allow registrant to collect 2 compulsory CPC points annually.

PHECC is delighted with the progress that CFR is making and is mindful that with out the continued support of our recognised institutions that none ofthis would be possible. It is PHECC’s strategy to encourage as many people as possible to train in resuscitation.