Adult Cardiac Arrest Team Member

When treating a patient in cardiac arrest the role of the Team Member is critical to executing the treatments needed to provide the patient with the best chance of survival. As an effective Team Member, you must understand, and be able to perform, all the BLS tasks that need to be performed during a cardiac arrest so that your team leader can effectively delegate you.

The high priority treatments during a cardiac arrest include:

1. Notice when the patient condition changes and warrants re-evaluation.
2. Communicate your concerns to your team leader and state the need to re-assess ABC’s.
3. Perform your assigned task to the best of your ability & communicate challenges/successes. Critical tasks that you may be delegated to perform during a cardiac arrest include:
   1. Airway – use your airway skills – BVM, OPA/NPA, King/iGel effectively (see corresponding instructions).
   2. Compressions – Congrats, you’re the most important member of the team – Compress 100-120/min, effective depth of at least 2”, communicating compressions with the team member on Airway, 30:2 ratio, and remember to switch compressors at every AED “analyze” step.
   3. Automated External Defibrillator (AED) – Properly connect and turn on the device and relay all instructions that it provides to you to the rest of the team.
   4. If the AED indicates that shock is advised, continue to perform compressions while the AED is charging, assuring you and your team members are not touching the patient when the shock is being delivered.
   5. Team Lead / Other duties as assigned – Look for a DNR / POLST, find and write down the medications, think of possible causes, encourage timely compression changes.
4. Use closed loop communication skills with your team leader when you are assigned a task to perform (see the closed loop communication section of this manual for more information).
5. Be sure to notify your team leader if you have completed a requested task and are now available to be assigned to another task if appropriate.