Clarifying the AHA guidelines for CPR and defibrillation.

The American Heart Association's (AHA) newest Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care include sub stantial changes, and hospitals will need to modify processes and equipment to implement them. This article clarifies the new guidelines and describes the rationale behind each change. Also, it describes the steps that leading defibrillator suppliers are taking to make their products comply. In some cases, these product changes will require hospitals to install software-based upgrades or modify product configurations.