American Heart Association 2025 Guidelines

ABSTRACT: The American Heart Association (AHA) regularly updates its evidence-based practice recommendations for basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric life support, and neonatal life support. This article reviews the latest AHA guidelines, which were released in October 2025, highlights important changes, and demonstrates how nurses can incorporate these changes into their practice. Examples of new practice recommendations include back blows and abdominal thrusts in the management of severe foreign body obstruction in the conscious adult, use of the two thumbs encircling approach or heel of one hand when providing infant chest compressions, and the administration of an initial 200 Joule synchronized shock in the unstable patient with atrial fibrillation.