Basic Life Support (BLS) is a protocol for maintaining airways, breathing, and circulation before advanced medical care is available. BLS can be performed by medical professionals, first responders, and laypeople who have received training. BLS is not a substitute for medical care and should be accompanied by a call to 911.
Basic Life Support (BLS) is basic medical help that is offered to people before they reach a hospital or in situations where high-level medical care is not immediately available. Emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and other first responders can perform BLS, and people without formal medical training may be able to offer basic life support after attending a workshop to learn the basics. The idea behind the BLS is that while it may not always save a patient, it can keep them going long enough for more advanced measures to be taken.
The key to basic life support is maintaining the ABCs: airways, breathing, and circulation. When providing basic life support, rescuers can use cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restart the patient’s breathing if needed, and can also provide basic treatment for cuts, broken limbs, and other problems. Often, the goal is just to stabilize the patient, not provide lasting treatment.
Invasive procedures and medications are not usually part of basic life support. In BLS training, people learn a protocol to follow, which begins with securing the scene and then determining whether or not the patient is responsive. If the patient is unresponsive, a number of steps can be taken to make the patient’s condition more stable. BLS practitioners sometimes carry shortcut cards that list the steps in order, depending on the situation, with specific directions for airway blockages, hypothermia, and other situations.
Medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, and paramedics can provide BLS, as BLS is a very early part of medical education. First responders, such as police officers and firefighters, also usually receive BLS training so they can provide assistance on the scene. Lay people can take BLS classes, lasting from several hours to several days, depending on the level of training involved, so they can offer BLS. The ability to perform BLS can be especially useful for people who work with the public in settings such as schools, gyms, and restaurants.
BLS is not intended for use by itself. If basic life support is being offered to someone in need of medical care, it should be accompanied by a call to 911. The person making the call should be able to provide as much information about the patient’s situation and condition as possible. People don’t need to know medical terminology; just telling the operator that the patient appears to have a broken leg, or appears to be bleeding profusely from a particular region of the body, can be extremely helpful. The operator will also want to know if the patient is responsive and if life support measures have been taken at the scene.
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