Teaching resuscitation--can we improve?

In 1987, a Working Party Report from the Royal College of Physicians addressed the record of resuscitation from cardiopulmonary arrest. Their stated aim was to identify groups for instruction and to determine how required skills should be taught and retained. The recommendation for our specialty was brief: '...trained and competent in basic life support with airway adjuncts'. A survey of local practitioners was undertaken, to study their use of general anaesthesia, intravenous sedation, and relative analgesia and to discuss their resuscitation arrangements.