Anaesthetists’ knowledge regarding the 2015 resuscitation guidelines at three academic hospitals in Johannesburg
Date
2020
Authors
Lago, Alexa Joslin Dal
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Abstract
Background
Cardiac arrest remains a significant cause of death in many parts of the world despite
advances in medical technology and scientific research in the field of resuscitation.
Aim
The aim of this study was to describe the knowledge profile of anaesthetists in the
faculty of Health Sciences at Wits regarding the 2015 resuscitation guidelines: interns,
medical officers, registrars, consultants were included in the study. The study focused
on the course material found in the BLS, ACLS, PALS courses from the Resuscitation
Council of South Africa.
Method
A prospective, observational, transversal, research design was used.
Data was collected in the form of an anonymous questionnaire, which was distributed
at the departmental academic meetings. Information collected included basic
demographics, resuscitation course qualifications, and 25 multiple choice questions
based on coursework from the 3 resuscitation courses mentioned above. The
questions were specifically structured to highlight the knowledge of the changes in the
guidelines from its previous version.
Results
One hundred and sixty-eight (168) participants were entered into the study. Overall
knowledge levels were low with only 7.1% of the participants having adequate
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knowledge (scoring 80% or above). BLS, ACLS and PALS courses were completed
by 136, 116 and 70 participants respectively. Of the participants who had completed
these courses, 28.4%, 20.7%, 11.2% were current in their certification in the respective
courses mentioned above.
A statistically significant difference was found in the comparison of knowledge levels
of certified compared to non-certified anaesthetists. The number of participants who
had adequate knowledge in the certified group was 8 (14.5%) compared to 4 (3.5%)
in the non-certified group knowledge (p= 0.010). The mean of correct answers in the
certified group was 67.13 vs 56.88 in the non-certified group (p<0.05) with 95%
Confidence interval of 3.6, thus indicating that certified anaesthetists had higher
resuscitation knowledge levels than non-certified anaesthetists.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in Anaesthesia to the Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020