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American Heart Association 2025 Guidelines: Basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric

Karen Craig-Brangan1, Mary Patricia Day

  • 1At EMS Educational Services Inc in Warminster, PA, Karen Craig-Brangan is Owner, President, and CEO, and Mary Patricia Day is BLS/ACLS Faculty and Instructor.

Nursing
|June 16, 2026
PubMed

Insights

The American Heart Association updated life support guidelines in 2025. Nurses should integrate new techniques for foreign body obstruction, infant compressions, and atrial fibrillation management into practice.

Area of Science:

  • Emergency Medicine
  • Cardiology
  • Nursing Education

Background:

  • The American Heart Association (AHA) periodically revises evidence-based guidelines for life support.
  • These updates ensure healthcare providers utilize the most current and effective resuscitation techniques.
  • Nurses play a crucial role in implementing these updated protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the latest AHA guidelines released in October 2025.
  • To highlight significant modifications in life support recommendations.
  • To provide guidance for nurses on integrating these changes into clinical practice.

Main Methods:

  • Review of the official American Heart Association 2025 guidelines.
  • Identification and summarization of key changes in basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric life support, and neonatal life support.
  • Development of practical examples for nursing application.

Main Results:

  • New recommendations include back blows and abdominal thrusts for adult foreign body airway obstruction.
  • Modified infant chest compression techniques emphasize the two thumbs encircling or one-hand heel methods.
  • Guidance for unstable atrial fibrillation includes an initial 200 Joule synchronized shock.

Conclusions:

  • The 2025 AHA guidelines introduce critical updates for various life support scenarios.
  • Nurses must familiarize themselves with and implement these changes to optimize patient outcomes.
  • Adoption of updated protocols enhances the effectiveness of emergency cardiovascular care.

Keywords:
ACLSAHAAmerican Heart AssociationBLSECCNRPPALSadvanced cardiovascular life supportbasic life supportemergency cardiovascular careneonatal advanced life supportpediatric advanced life support

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