Abstract 19658: Physicians on Cardiac Arrest Teams are Most Often Non-specialists With Limited Clinical Experience

Abstract

Introduction: The quality of in-hospital resuscitation is poor and may be affected by clinical experience and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. This study aimed to investigate the clinical experience, self-perceived skills, CPR training, and knowledge of guidelines on when to abandon resuscitation among physicians on cardiac arrest teams. Methods: This is a nationwide cross-sectional study in Denmark. Telephone interviews were performed with physicians on cardiac arrest teams in public somatic hospitals. Telephone interviews were performed using a structured questionnaire. Results: In total, 93 physicians (53% male) from 45 hospitals participated. Median age was 34 interquartile range (30-39) years. Participants were medical students working as locum physicians (5%), residents and fellows (79%), chief physicians (16%), and median postgraduate clinical experience was 48 (19-87) months. Most physicians (92%) felt confident in treating a cardiac arrest, while less felt confident in performing intubation (41%) and focused cardiac ultrasound (39%) during cardiac arrest. Median time since last CPR training was 4 months (2-10) and 48% had attended a European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Advanced Life Support (ALS) course. The majority (84%) felt confident in terminating resuscitation however only 9% were able to state ERC guidelines on when to abandon resuscitation. Conclusions: Physicians on Danish cardiac arrest teams are most often non-specialists with four or less years of clinical experience. Several physicians are not able to perform important clinical skills during resuscitation. Less than half of physicians have attended an ERC ALS course. Only very few physicians know the ERC guidelines on when to abandon resuscitation.