Health-Care Providers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Adult Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, Gojjam, Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Good knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health-care providers regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation are vital to improve patient outcomes after cardiac arrest. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to management of adult patients with cardiac arrest among health-care providers at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, Debre Markos, northwest Ethiopia in 2019. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to February, 2019 at Debre Markos Referral Hospital. All health-care providers who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and transferred to SPSS 20 for analysis. RESULTS: Of the 352 health-care providers, 324 participated in the study for a response rate of 92%. Amajority (63%) were male. The age of male (80%) was 26–35 years old, with a mean of 29.28±4.8 years. A majority (77.8%) had inadequate knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Almost all (97.8%) had no knowledge about cardiocerebral resuscitation. More than half (64.2%) had unfavorable attitudes toward CPR. Moreover, 288 (88.9%) had unsafe practices regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The site and depth of chest compression was answered correctly by only 33 (10.2%) and 59 (18.2%) of participants, respectively. CONCLUSION: Health-care providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices were inadequate, unfavorable, and unsafe regarding the management of cardiac arrest. Training on the assessment of critically ill patients, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and cardiocerebral resuscitation should be provided for health-care providers. Additionally, resuscitation equipment like defibrillators and emergency drugs should be available in all wards and emergency rooms.