The Emergency Action Plan

An emergency action plan (EAP) is a written, rehearsed, venue-specific plan for what happens when somebody collapses, so that a collapsed athlete gets cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillator within minutes.

Survival from cardiac arrest turns on early recognition, prompt CPR, early defibrillation and a coordinated response. The plan solves the coordination: whether the defibrillator arrives in time and whether anybody can reach the athlete to use it. It settles in advance the questions that are otherwise settled badly under stress: where the defibrillator is, who fetches it, who calls, who lets the ambulance in, where it parks and where the athlete goes.

Resuscitation Council UK states that every local sports club should have a plan for cardiac arrest, and strongly recommends an on-site defibrillator that is immediately accessible wherever people exercise or compete. Where there is none on site, the club should know where the nearest community defibrillator is. The resuscitation itself is on the Sudden Cardiac Arrest page, and the assessment on Assessing the Collapsed Athlete.