The knowledge level of critical care nurses about cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines at a University affiliated public sector hospital in Johannesburg

Abstract

Background: Cardiac arrest remains a leading cause of sudden death worldwide. Provision of high quality CPR, in case of cardiac arrest, increases chances of patient survival, therefore, nurses as front-line patient caregivers are expected to be knowledgeable and skilful in providing CPR to cardiac arrest victims. Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate critical care nurses’ knowledge of evidence based guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a university affiliated public sector hospital in Johannesburg, and to establish if there is an association between qualification (Trauma and Emergency nurses and Intensive Care nurses) and years of experience (<10 years and >10 years) on knowledge of evidence-based guidelines of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was utilised in this study to elicit the knowledge of critical care nurses on the current cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines. The setting for this study was the two adult emergency departments (Trauma and Medical) and five (n=5) adult Intensive Care Units of a 1,200 bed capacity public sector hospital in Johannesburg. The ICUs included Trauma, Cardiothoracic, Coronary care, Neurosurgery and multidisciplinary or general units. The population of the study involved all critical care registered nurses currently working in the adult Emergency Departments and Intensive Care Units, and all nurses with specialty education and training in Trauma and Emergency Nursing and Intensive Care Nursing were eligible for participation in this study. The total sample of registered critical care nurses (N=96) was used. In this study, a non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select participants. The data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire with two parts. The first section collected demographic data of the participants, while the second section employed 20 multiple choice questions based on the latest AHA guidelines for adult CPR. The knowledge level of critical care nurses was classified as sufficient for participants who answered correctly at least 17 of 20 questions (>85%) and insufficient for less than 17 out of 20 questions (total score <85%), according to the AHA accreditation criteria. Reliability was determined by means of a pilot study, and validity through a panel of experts. Results: Nurses had insufficient knowledge of the current AHA guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation as none could attain the minimum score of 85% .There was no association between post-basic specialisation, years of nursing experience and scoring in the CPR knowledge test. In conclusion, all critical care nurses had insufficient knowledge of the current AHA guidelines for CPR.