ECC Guidelines 1992	CPR and ECC Guidelines 2000
CPR Techniques	CPR Techniques
Lay rescuers check for pulse when deciding whether to administer chest compressions.	Lay rescuers check for signs of circulation, such as normal breathing, coughing or movement in response to stimulation when determining if they should administer chest compressions.
Lay rescuers performing adult CPR provide 15 chest compressions for every 2 rescue breaths when one rescuer is present, and five compressions to one breath when two rescuers are present.	Lay rescuers performing adult CPR provide 15 chest compressions for every 2 rescue breaths, regardless of whether one and two rescuers are present.
For an unconscious choking victim, lay rescuers would attempt ventilation, open the airway and look for a foreign body, perform abdominal thrusts (Heimlich Maneuver) and continue CPR.	To treat an unconscious adult choking victim, lay rescuers begin standard CPR including chest compressions and will not conduct abdominal thrusts or blind finger sweeps of the mouth.
Public Access to Defibrillation	Public Access to Defibrillation
Recommends early defibrillation be given.	Recommends as a goal delivery of electric shock by a defibrillator within 5 minutes for an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac victim and within 3 minutes for an in-hospital victim.
Recommends early defibrillation be given.	Recommends that AEDs be placed where there is a reasonable probability of one sudden cardiac arrest occurring every five years.
Recommends that all personnel whose jobs require that they perform CPR be trained to operate defibrillators, particularly automated external defibrillators.	In addition to healthcare providers, identifies specific lay responders who should be trained in CPR and the use of an AED, including police, firefighters, security personnel, ski patrol members, ferryboat crews and airline flight attendants.
International Involvement	International Involvement
International resuscitation councils participated to a limited extent in the development of guidelines, but formal approval for use in countries outside the U.S. is limited.	Resuscitation councils from around the world participated in guidelines development and officially approved the guidelines for use in countries outside the U.S.
Ethics	Ethics
In the pre-hospital setting, EMS providers must be trained to deal sensitively with family members and others present and the involvement of a member of the clergy or a social worker should be considered.	Recommendation of new drugs to treat life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms and new treatments for emergencies such as drug overdose or poisoning (not included in previous guidelines) are recommended.
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support	Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
Endotracheal intubation is considered the "gold standard" for airway control.	For airway management and ventilation, healthcare providers should have proficiency in bag-mask devices because they are an effective method of "breathing" for the patient. The decision to use the bag-mask device vs. tracheal tube method should be based on the patient's condition and the rescuer's experience. Also new recommendations are made for preventing and detecting tracheal tube displacement.
Use of an EKG is recommended, but clot-busting drugs are not widely available.	New clot-busting drugs are effective in treating heart attack and stroke but must be administered within a few hours of the onset of symptoms, therefore, recommendations are made for healthcare providers to:
	Use a 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) in the pre-hospital setting to determine heart damage. Recognize if a heart attack or stroke victim is eligible for clot-busting therapy and notify the hospital that the patient is on the way. transport a patient to a hospital capable of providing the most effective treatment.

Source: American Heart Association Press Release, August 2000