Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Knowledge, Attitude, and Experience of House Officers and Junior Residents in a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

Background: From time to time, doctors would be faced with situations requiring them to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on patients. They would also play a leading role in the training of lay Responders. It is therefore important that doctors have the right attitude, sufficient knowledge and experience for satisfactory performance. To gain insight into this and act appropriately is the aim of this study. Method: This is a cross-sectional study of House Officers and Junior Residents in the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia. Data was collected, using a questionnaire that was based on the 2005 American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC). The data was fed into a password protected computer and analyzed using the Statistical Package with Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The total number of doctors was 69; with a mean age (years) of 31.45, a Standard deviation (SD) of 3.96 and a range of 24 – 40. Males were 54 (78.26%); females were 11 (15.94%); and 4 (5.80%) did not provide their gender. House Officers were 23 (33.33%) and Junior Residents 46 (66.67%). Only 13 (18.84%) of the respondents had a score of ≥ 50%. Some (60.87%) had not been faced with making contact and ventilating a patient with their mouth. Some of the respondents (86.96%) had been faced with requirement for chest compression on a patient. Most (78.26%) had never ventilated someone with their mouth while 15 (21.74%), only Junior Residents, had done so. The mean of survival rates expected by the respondents (N=55) was 55.10% (SD 21.01). Conclusion: The knowledge and experience of Junior Residents and House Officers are low and their expectations concerning survival following CPR too high and unrealistic. Training in CPR is important to them but most of them would not make contact and ventilate an adult with their mouth and some would not do so for a neonate or a child. Periodic training of the doctors in all aspects of CPR is proposed to enhance their knowledge and modify their attitude.