Basic life support
Basic life support (BLS) is a specific level of prehospital medical care provided by trained responders, including emergency medical technicians, in the absence of advanced medical care.
Basic Life Support consists of a number of life-saving techniques which are focused on the "ABC"s of prehospital emergency care:
- Airway: the protection and maintenance of a patent airway including the use of airway adjuncts such as an oral or nasal airway
- Breathing: the actual flow of air through respiration, natural or
artificial respiration, often assisted by emergency oxygen
- Circulation: the movement of blood through the beating of the heart or the emergency measure of CPR
BLS may also include considerations of patient transport such as the protection of the cervical spine and avoiding additional injuries through splinting and immobilization.
BLS generally does not include the use of drugs or invasive skills, and can be contrasted with the provision of Advanced_cardiac_life_support (ACLS).
CPR provided in the field buys time for higher medical responders to arrive and provide ACLS. For this reason it is essential that any person starting CPR also obtain ACLS support by calling for help via radio using agency policies and procedures and/or using an appropriate emergency telephone number.
An important advance in providing BLS is the availability of the automated external defibrillator or AED, which can be used to deliver defibrillation. This improves survival outcomes in cardiac arrest cases, sometimes dramatically.
See also: emergency medical technician artificial respiration CPR
