Training, knowledge, experience and perceptions regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation of doctors at an academic hospital in central South Africa

BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves immediate survival and survival to discharge in patients with cardiac arrest in hospital. Without frequent retraining in CPR, healthcare providers may lose their skills and knowledge earlier than the recommendation of CPR retraining every two years. OBJECTIVES: To determine the competencies of doctors at an academic hospital regarding CPR training, knowledge, experience and perceptions. METHODS: A custom-designed questionnaire reviewed by CPR providers was distributed to doctors to obtain information on CPR training, exposure to and perceptions of CPR retraining, and CPR knowledge. The knowledge component of the questionnaire comprised questions on basic, advanced cardiac, paediatric, neonatal and obstetric life support. RESULTS: Of the 245 participants, 22.5% achieved competency (a mark of ≥ 80%) for the knowledge component of the questionnaire. The majority of participants had not undertaken retraining after two years, although 96.7% of participants felt that keeping up-to-date with CPR guidelines would improve patient outcomes. The most common reasons provided for not feeling confident in performing CPR were related to training. CONCLUSION: Doctors at the academic hospital in this study are currently not adequately trained in CPR, which is reflected by their lack of CPR knowledge. Lack of training seems to be the most common reason for not feeling confident, and being too busy to attend these retraining courses was reported as the most common reason. It further seems that very few of the departments have CPR training for their doctors. A regular in-hospital CPR training program may improve doctor's CPR knowledge.