Basic Life Support - Child Nursing

Good basic life support (BLS) can mean the difference between survival and death in the event of a person suffering a cardiac arrest. Whether this is in the community or in a hospital setting, the same principles of providing fast, early help apply. As students you are required to complete mandatory training in BLS every year (and this will continue in future health and care settings where you will work), but do we always recognise the importance of this skill? In the video below (from the British Heart Foundation) a man suffers an out of hospital cardiac arrest. His friend quickly recognises this and calls for help, whilst beginning basic life support through early CPR. Soon after the defibrillator arrives with the Ambulance Service, the patient receives early defibrillation from the paramedic and further high quality CPR. All of these steps are  outlined below in the Chain of Survival. These are the simple recognised steps involved in resuscitation which we know improve outcomes from cardiac arrest. The patient goes on to make a full recovery. The video reinforces how BLS truly is a lifesaving skill to have!

Please also see the page on Clinical Skills Repository page on Airway Management for information surrounding airway adjuncts you may see used during resucitation.

Chain of Survival

The chain is only as strong as its weakest link; all four links in the Chain of Survival must be strong (Resuscitation Council UK, 2026). 

PLEASE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH DNACPR AND RESPECT PAGE

Read the illustrated guides to Basic Life Support in children and in children and infants on ClinicalSkills.net

You will need to be logged into ClinicalSkills.net to use these pages: Go to https://shu.app.clinicalskills.net, enter your user name and password. You must have set up your account to do this. For further information on how to login to your ClinicalSkills.net account please click here: How to Login to ClinicalSkills.net 

Once logged in to your account, click on Guides in the main Dashboard area and search for the following guides:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Checking equipment

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Initial assessment and resuscitation (in a hospital environment)

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Mouth-to-mouth ventilation

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Bag-valve-mask ventilation

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Chest compressions

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children: Automated external defibrillation for children

The Resuscitation Council (UK) is the United Kingdom body responsible for setting central standards for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and related disciplines, and is a member of the European Resuscitation Council, which in turn is part of the international standards body, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation or 'ILCOR'. Click onto the button below to see the latest 2025 guidelines. The BLS algorithm can also be viewed in the image below...

Lifesaver is an interactive film, guiding the user through the steps of basic life support, click on the link below to play:

Click on the button below to navigate to the 'Assessments' area of ClinicalSkills.net. Please make sure you're logged into ClinicalSkills.net already, otherwise you may not be able to open and take the test. Once you have reached the 'Assessments' area, select 'Standard Assessments' and then click on the test called 'Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in infants and children' to begin. You will need to score 80% or more to pass. Make sure you've read the ClinicalSkills.net procedures thoroughly before taking the test as many of the answers will be found within there!