Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation (ANZCOR) Guidelines

This section is based on the ANZCOR Basic Life Support Guidelines.

Recognising cardiac arrest can be difficult. The mechanism of an unwitnessed collapse or a collapse that occurred away from contact – players do not “faint” on the Rugby pitch - should always be assessed with cardiac arrest in mind. All such casualties should be initially approached once safe to do so via the DR ABCDE and MILS system. When assessing responsiveness, tap their shoulder and shout, “Are you OK?”. 

If no response shout for help, once arrived send them to call for an ambulance and bring an AED.

To decide if a cardiac arrest has occurred in an unresponsive player, the key assessment is whether the player is breathing “NORMALLY”. This needs to be interpreted in context as the player may have been sprinting the length of the pitch just before the collapse and so you would expect them to be breathing rapidly and with symmetrical chest movement.

Safe approach: Make sure the area is clear

Assess: Tap and shout, “Are you OK?"

Call for help and send for help.

Airway and breathing: Check for signs of ‘normal’ breathing; dusky colour and agonal breathing (gasping) is NOT normal

Send someone to phone for Emergency Services and bring an AED

Start CPR

Attach the defibrillator and follow the instructions.