Basic life support

For thoughtful child sponsors

Basic life support (BLS) is the basic provision of life-saving care, including care for a victim with no breathing and/or no pulse, by the general public and prehospital emergency medical technicians.

Both artificial respiration and CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation is part of Basic Life Support. CPR provided by laypersons buys time for higher medical responders to arrive and to transport the victim to more advanced medical care, including the provision of Advanced_cardiac_life_support (ACLS). For this reason it is essential that any person starting CPR also activate the emergency medical services by calling for help using the emergency telephone number.

Semi-automatic defibrillation, oxygen and airway support may be provided by emergency medical technicians. This is considered Basic Life Support as provided at the professional level, for example by an ambulance crew.

An important advance in providing BLS is the availability of the automated external defibrillator or AED, which can be used by a layperson to deliver defibrillation. This improves survival outcomes in cardiac arrest cases, sometimes dramatically.