Knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation of clinicians at a South African tertiary hospital

Abstract

AbstractObjectives: The objectives of this study were to assess clinicians' knowledge about evaluating possible cardiac arrest patients and recognising cardiac arrest, to assess clinicians' knowledge about appropriate decisions and actions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and to determine which advanced life support courses had been undertaken and whether they were still valid.Design: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey.Setting and subjects: The subjects were doctors who worked in clinical disciplines at a South African tertiary hospital. Using convenience sampling, doctors from each clinical discipline were invited to participate. Those who consented were included, until a sample of 100 was obtained.Outcome measures: A self-administered, closed-ended questionnaire that was based on the course content of the American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) course was used. The minimum score of 84%, benchmarked against the AHA BLS course, was used to define adequate knowledge...