Clinical Awareness of Do's and Don'ts of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Among University Medical Students-A Questionnaire Study

Experience of Basic Life Support among King Khalid University Health Profession Students, Southwestern Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

Satisfactory experience about basic life support (BLS) is crucial to ensure rapid and efficient delivery of essential life-saving care during emergency situations.

OBJECTIVES

To assess BLS experience among health profession students at King Khalid University (KKU), Southwestern Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on a representative sample of male and female health profession students, during the academic year 2019-2020. A self-reported questionnaire was utilized to collect data about BLS experiences, which included receiving BLS training, reasons for not having BLS training, suggestions to improve BLS training, encountering a situation that required the use of BLS, practicing BLS when needed and reasons for not practicing BLS when needed.

RESULTS

Out of 1261 health profession students, 590 received formal BLS training with a prevalence rate of 46.8% (95% CI: 44.0-49.6), and 46.0% of them trained at the university. Important obstacles for non-attendance included busy academic schedule (54.7%) and high cost of the training course (18%). Overall, 84.1% supported integration of BLS training into their college curricula. Almost 26% encountered a situation that required BLS; however, only 32.4% responded. Through multivariate regression, the significant determinant of response was having formal BLS training (aOR = 4.24, 95% CI: 2.38-7.54). The frequent reasons for non-response were lack of adequate BLS knowledge (35.0%), nervousness (22.8%), and that the victim was of opposite sex (9.0%).

CONCLUSION

It is recommended that more emphasis should be given to BLS training among undergraduates of health profession colleges in Southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is recommended that BLS training be integrated into health profession college curricula. Including BLS training as a graduation requirement for health profession students might motivate students to attain BLS training courses.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation among junior doctors and medical students in Upper Egypt: cross-sectional study

Background

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a fundamental skill that should be acquired by all medical community members. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of junior doctors and medical students towards CPR and CPR training at Beni-Suef University Hospital in Upper Egypt, a representative region with conditions common to LMIC settings.

Participants and methods

In this cross-sectional study, a total of 205 participants (60 junior doctors and 145 medical students) responded to a self-administered questionnaire assessing their knowledge regarding basic life support (BLS) and CPR techniques in neonates, children, and adults, in addition to attitudes towards the importance and necessity of CPR and CPR training.

Results

Of the 60 junior doctors that participated in the study, only 31.7% had adequate knowledge of CPR, but up to 95% reported positive attitudes towards CPR training. Among the 145 medical student participants, only 6.2% had adequate knowledge of CPR, while 91% reported positive attitudes towards training. Deficiencies in CPR knowledge were more apparent in questions related to CPR in children and neonates. Junior doctors and medical students with previous CPR training demonstrated significantly better CPR knowledge than their counterparts without prior training. A statistically significant positive correlation was detected between CPR knowledge and attitude towards CPR training among medical students (r = 0.41, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The results of this study demonstrate suboptimal and inadequate CPR knowledge among junior doctors and medical students in a representative hospital in Upper Egypt. However, participants reported overwhelmingly positive attitudes and eagerness towards the implementation of CPR training. Further research needs to be done to establish CPR skill proficiency as well as to investigate barriers to CPR training, effectiveness of available programs, and the potential implementation of such a program in Egypt and other LMICs.

Continuous Education of Basic Life Support (BLS) through Social Media; a Quasi-Experimental Study

INTRODUCTION

It is imperative, if not fundamental, for medical students to receive continuing education in Basic life support (BLS). This present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of continuing education using social media in this regard.

METHODS

In this quasi-experimental study, a questionnaire containing 20 items about BLS awareness was completed by the interns who were trained monthly in the emergency medicine training course. Then half of the interns received distant education through Telegram software up to three months, and the other did not receive any further education. Again, both groups completed the questionnaire at the end of the third month.

RESULTS

100 medical interns with the mean age of 25.05 ± 1.26 years were allocated to two groups of 50 subjects (65.0% female). Two groups were similar regarding the mean age (p = 0.304), gender (p = 0.529), mean awareness score at the beginning of the study (p = 0.916), and average pre-internship exam score (p = 0.080). The mean awareness score of medical interns increased significantly in intervention (11.44 ± 2.37 to 14.88 ± 1.97, p < 0.0001) and control (11.38 ± 3.22 to 12.54 ± 3.04, p < 0.0001) groups at second examination. But mean difference of awareness score, before and after the education, was significantly higher in intervention group (3.44 ± 1.48 versus 1.16 ± 1.51; p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

The increase in the BLS awareness score was significantly higher in medical interns who were continuously educated using Telegram social media software.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge among nursing students: a questionnaire study

Objective:

Nurses are usually first witnesses to in-hospital sudden cardiac arrests. Training of nurses has an impact on the efficiency and outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and thus, assessment of CPR knowledge among undergraduate nurses is very important to improve training program.

Methods:

The questionnaire comprised of three parts about CPR knowledge: the first dealing with general questions to understand the importance of CPR in clinical practice; the second comprising the main goal and accuracy of CPR intervention; and the last consisting of questions targeting the indications, methods, and effectiveness of CPR. Descriptive statistics and multiple response analyses were done by IBM SPSS version 20.

Results:

The students had good knowledge about the importance of CPR in clinical practice and stood average in knowing its indications and effectiveness. The mean score was 64.62±17.84 out of 100 points. While only 11% of them were completely aware about the universal compression ventilation ratio, 16.2% were aware of the current compression depth. In addition, 21.8% of participants have only indicated the order of CPR being compression, airway, and breathing.

Conclusion:

Knowledge of CPR is good among the nursing students. However, skills of CPR have to be improved by current training programs at regular intervals. Their knowledge and practical approach have to be updated with the current guidelines in CPR.