Avaliação do conhecimento geral de médicos emergencistas de hospitais de Salvador - Bahia sobre o atendimento de vítimas com parada cardiorrespiratória

Abstract

objective: To identify the proportion of emergency physicians certified in immersion courses (ACLS -Advanced Cardiac Life Support and ATLS -Advanced Trauma Life Support) correlating the variables of age, gender, medical specialty, academic title, and type of hospital with the level of theoretical knowledge on the care of Cardiac Arrest (CA) victims. Methods:Emergency physicians from public and private hospitals of the city of Salvador, State of Bahia -Brazil, were consecutively evaluated from November, 2003 to July, 2004. They volunteered to participate in the study, and responded to a questionnaire consisting of information on the following variables of interest: professional profile, participation or not in ACLS and ATLS immersion courses, and cognitive assessment with 22 objective questions on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). A score of correct answers was calculated for each participant, and then designated as score variable. This questionnaire was validated based on the result of the score obtained by ACLS course instructors in Salvador, BA. Results:Of the 305 physicians who responded to the questionnaire, 83 (27.2%) had attended the ACLS course and had a mean score variable of 14.9+3.0 compared with the 215 physicians (70.5%) who had not attended the course and whose mean was 10.5+ 3.5 (p=0.0001). The mean score of the 65 cardiologists (21.5%) was 14.1+3.3 compared with the mean of 9.7+3.7(p=0.0001) of the 238 physicians (78.5%) from other specialties. No difference was observed in the mean scores between physicians who had attended the ATLS course or not (p=0.67). Conclusion:In the sample studied, theoretical knowledge on CPR was higher among physicians who had attended the ACLS course, as opposed to those who had attended the ATLS course. Cardiologists who had attended the ACLS demonstrated a higher theoretical knowledge on the care of CA patients when compared to physicians from other specialties taken as whole -Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopedics.

Theoretical knowledge of nurses working in non-hospital urgent and emergency care units concerning cardiopulmonary arrest and resuscitation

“…Differences between genders were also found in relation to detection of CPA, ALS, medication used and nursing records. These findings are similar to another study (17) in which the average score for men was 11.4 and for women was 12.3 (p<0.05). Data explaining such differences were not found in the literature.…”

“…The performance of nurses in the theoretical test presented results similar to those found in another study in which physicians displayed deficiencies in theoretical knowledge concerning resuscitation and whose average knowledge score was 54.5% (17) . A recent study revealed that nurses presented an average of 6.8 correct answers before training; about 60% of them correctly answered more than 75% of the questions (18) .…”

“…This information shows the importance of basic and advanced life support programs. Another study (17) indicates that the score of emergency physicians who attended an ALS program was 14.9 while the score of those who did not was 10.5. These results are similar to those found in another study (22) , where the group with BLS presented improved performance.…”

The knowledge and experience of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among cardiologists in clinical practice. A multicenter cross-sectional study

“…Kiyan et al (15) demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between the level of theoretic knowledge and clinical application on CPR. Filgueiras Filho et al (16) concluded that theoretical knowledge on CPR was higher among physicians who had attendedthe ACLS course and cardiologists showeda higher theoretical knowledge on the care of patients who had cardiac arrest compared to other physicians in the fields of internal medicine, surgery, and orthopedics. Our present study and the majority of current literature is consistent with our findings, which reveal that the training courses had significantly improved the theoretical knowledge and had a significant impact on the CPR quality.…”

Evaluation of self-reported confidence amongst radiology staff in initiating basic life support across hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole West region

“…Numerous international studies have shown lack of confidence in initiating BLS when confronted with cardiac arrest, not only amongst general nurses, students or non-surgical disciplines, but also within emergency care staff. 16,17,18,19,20 Maharaj concluded that emergency care staff working in both public and private settings in South Africa were not sufficiently confident to initiate BLS. As in our study, they showed that the presence of an appropriately trained clinician leading resuscitation boosted confidence in performing BLS.…”