Cardiac arrest
Practise the first response to cardiac arrest and understand your role in the resuscitation team.
Clinical learning outcomes: Awaiting named clinical review.
What you should learn
- Recognise possible cardiac arrest, summon help and begin the response you have been trained to provide.
- Explain immediate life support, CPR and early defibrillation at graduate level.
Recognise and explain
- Discuss reversible causes and how adult and paediatric resuscitation differ.
On your placement
Rehearse the local emergency call and practise these skills in simulation with an instructor.
- Rehearse the local in-hospital emergency call.
- Practise CPR and AED use in simulation, with feedback and agreed adjustments.
- Practise basic airway and bag-mask skills with an instructor.
Observe and understand
- Observe advanced airway management, resuscitation drugs and team leadership; these are not independent student tasks.
Observation does not establish competence to perform these activities.
Start here
MLA: cardiac arrest and the student’s role
Revise recognition of cardiac arrest, basic life support and the student role within the resuscitation team.
Current guidance
GMC clarification of the CPR outcome
Read how the CPR outcome can be met, including directing others when circumstances require and arranging reasonable adjustments.
RCUK adult basic life support 2025
Review arrest recognition, CPR and AED use; rehearse the in-hospital response using your department’s emergency call procedure.
On your next shift
Before your next shift, locate the resuscitation trolley and identify how to summon the team.
Go deeper
Optional material. Advanced resources extend discussion; they do not define independent student practice. Check the publication date and compare clinical advice with current guidance.
RCUK adult advanced life support 2025
Optional background on the resuscitation team’s decisions, reversible causes and advanced treatment; these are not independent student tasks.
How this relates to GMC graduate outcomes and the MLA
These are St Emlyn’s learning connections, not a claim that this page covers every national requirement.
Presentations and conditions: Cardiorespiratory arrest.
Clinical and professional capabilities: Assessment and clinical reasoning; Recognising limits and seeking help.
St Emlyn’s interpretation of relevant GMC graduate outcomes and MLA themes; these are summary labels, not official topic codes or a complete curriculum.
Explore the student placement programme
Student practice and graduate expectations
About this resource and its review
A St Emlyn’s guide to learning Emergency Medicine during undergraduate placements. It is not an official medical-school or GMC curriculum. Your medical school’s curriculum and assessment requirements take precedence.
National foundations: GMC Outcomes for Graduates, the practical-skills supplement and the MLA content map applying from September 2026.
Framework checked: 8 October 2026. This is a source check, not clinical sign-off.
Clinical learning outcomes: awaiting named clinical review.
The four learning routes are St Emlyn’s groupings. The six interconnected MLA domains remain part of the official content map.