Abstract 4146351: A Multicentre Study for Hands Only CPR (HOCPR) training assessment towards building a ‘Nation of Life Savers” in India

Failure to rescue a subject sustaining sudden cardiac arrest is a public health issue requiring urgent action. The awareness, knowledge&skills of HOCPR is very low and the need-gap is very high in India with world’s largest and diverse population (socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic&educational). We undertook a structured multicentred approach with the following elements for improving HOCPR awareness, education&training for generalisability and scalability: i) an IRB/IEC approved pre-post training survey; ii) train-the-trainer program iii) pilot study in one district of a state; iv) validation study in 5 states (data validation is available for 4 out of 5 sites as of now) located in disparate regions of India with part financial support through AHA grants in aid. The pilot cohort of 46,012 trainees covered 27 of 32 revenue divisions (mandals) in one state, comprising students and community members of diverse sections of society. Pre- post training statistical analyses include McNemer’s test&ChiSquare. Results: The reason for non-readiness for HOCPR was” do not know how” in 92.9% of trainees in pre-test, and 98.6% reported that they learnt HOCPR in post -test(p<0.001). Pre- post education/ training comparison statistical analysis showed a significant improvement in knowledge (p<0.0001)&skill (p<0.0001). There was 82.8% improvement in knowledge, and 60.4% improvement in readiness; showing that ‘readiness’ requires more effort than knowledge/skills alone in HOCPR. The quality of training (Likert scale) showed 86% responding excellent/ very good; and the reasons for improvement being more training time and unevenness in quality of training in 14% of trainees. The ongoing validation study cohort comprises 59,646 trainees. Pre-post survey corroborated the pilot data with regards to knowledge/skills of trainees and quality of training. This prospective multicentre HOCPR training impact analysis provides scientific platform for scaling up in a most heterogeneous and vast population like India. Further studies are planned to improve HOCPR readiness as well as downstream analysis of sudden cardiac arrest victims receiving HOCPR at the scene for mitigation of death and enhanced quality of life of survivors transported to hospital.