This course will explore new breakthroughs in the treatment of patients during cardiac arrest and after successful resuscitation, including new approaches to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and post-arrest care. Topics will include: (1) the underlying challenges of cardiac arrest in public health, (2) the important role of chest compressions and ventilations, and new thinking about how to improve these approaches in resuscitation care, (3) the role of defibrillation and the exciting growth of automatic external defibrillation (AED) programs, and (4) the new science of targeted temperature management, also known as therapeutic hypothermia, to improve brain function after circulation is restored. This course is designed for a broad audience including the lay public, emergency medical personnel and other health care providers.

Dr. Benjamin Abella is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Clinical Research Director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the clinical care of cardiac arrest victims, with a special emphasis on methods to improve the quality and training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). He also maintains an active research program in the use of therapeutic hypothermia to improve survival after resuscitation from cardiac arrest. He is the medical director for the nation's only therapeutic hypothermia intensive training and certification course, based at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Abella also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association.

Dr. Abella graduated magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and then received a Masters degree in Genetics from Cambridge University in England. After attending medical school at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he completed dual residency training in both Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where he won the Hilger Perry Jenkins Award for outstanding teaching and patient care, given to only one resident hospital-wide each year.

Dr. Abella has spoken widely on cardiac arrest and therapeutic hypothermia, as an invited speaker at national and international meetings. He has been active in national initiatives on resuscitation care through his volunteer activities with the American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Abella has won numerous awards for his work, including the "health breakthrough award" from Ladies Home Journal Magazine. His work has been featured in Newsweek and Popular Science, as well as on National Geographic, CNN, and the ABC Network program 20/20. He recently appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer to discuss the importance of CPR.

For more information about the therapeutic hypothermia training program for which Dr. Abella serves as the Medical Director, look here.

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Go HERE for more information from coursera

Tip of the digital helmet to Mic Gunderson for his alert.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward