Basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge of house-officers in a tertiary institution: factors determining accuracy.

Kelechi Okonta,Boma Okoh

doi:10.11604/pamj.2014.18.209.3654

Kelechi Okonta, Boma Okoh

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2014.18.209.3654

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Abstract

BackgroundTo assess the level of knowledge of CPR among House-Officers (HO) and some factors determining accuracy of knowledge.MethodsA total of 50 structured questionnaires were administered to HO with 35 (70%) questionnaires duly filled and returned. Data on the participants’ brief biodata and the understanding of basic skills of BLS were collected and analyzed using International Business Machine SPSS Statistics version 21 for Windows. The t-test for independent samples was applied for the grouped data with P < 0.05 taken as level of significance.ResultsThe age of the respondents ranged from 20-37 years with the mean age of 25.4 + SD2.7 years and the male/female ratio was 1:1.3. Eleven (31.4%) out of the 35 HO had no prior CPR training while 68.6% had prior training; Eighteen (51.4%) had training within the last 2 years. Twenty (57.1%) had performed CPR in a real situation, while 42.9% had not. Six (17.1%) HO scored above 50% while 82.9% scored below 50%. The female HO got more correct answers than the males (25% versus 6.7%, p = 0.167). The number of respondents who had prior CPR training had more correct answers than those who did not (25% versus 0%, p = 0.083) while those who had previously performed CPR had more correct answers than those who had not (33.3% versus 5%, P <0.05).ConclusionThere was a general poor knowledge of the performance of basic CPR amongst HOs. However, previous experience of having performed CPR in real setting, or the use of mannequins, improved their theoretical knowledge of CPR.

Highlights

Internship is an important land mark in any doctor's career, as it enables the doctor work in a wide range of departments and sees patients in different specialties during rotations through the different departments [1]
It was observed that the probability of survival was greater when Basic Life Support (BLS) was begun within 4 minutes of arrest than when it was begun after 4 minutes; regardless of whether advanced cardiac life support was begun within 10 minutes [6]
A total of 50 structured questionnaires were administered to House Officers who were at the moment doing their postings in the different departments with 35 (70%) questionnaires duly filled and returned

Summary

Introduction

Internship is an important land mark in any doctor's career, as it enables the doctor work in a wide range of departments and sees patients in different specialties during rotations through the different departments [1]. The teaching should be targeted at the groups most likely to apply the acquired skill in order to make best use of the resources available [4] and HOs are one of the important groups suited for this task [5] These HOs should be followed up with regular training in CPR as well as the practice of CPR on mannequins before they have primary responsibility of CPR [2] The knowledge, and being able to administer CPR properly, when required, is a necessary perquisite for the HO and even before the commencement of internship; as the success of resuscitation of patients depends on timely and proper mode of administration of CPR. Previous experience of having performed CPR in real setting, or the use of mannequins, improved their theoretical knowledge of CPR

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