Attitudes of healthcare professionals involved in cardiology practice towards key points of contemporary guidelines on resuscitation.

Introduction: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not always executed in compliance with contemporary guidelines and the quality of CPR may differ among hospitals within the same country or among categories of healthcare providers and medical specialties. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes of cardiology healthcare professionals towards CPR guidelines.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was posted online during 2009. Responders were asked about their age, gender, occupation, and training/experience in CPR. Responders' attitudes towards CPR were assessed using 7 questions regarding the accuracy of their opinions about the automated external defibrillator, public defibrillation programs, CPR performance, and therapeutic hypothermia. A score (0 to 7) was formed by assigning grade 1 to answers that accorded with European Resuscitation Council (ERC) guidelines and grade 0 to all other answers. The reliability analysis for this score yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.78.

Results: There were 544 responders (158 females), median age 34 years (30, 40). Median score was 5 (3, 6). Attending an ERC resuscitation course (beta=0.33, SE beta=0.05, p<0.001), age (beta=-0.15 SE beta=0.05, p=0.002), involvement in >10 CPRs /year (beta=0.19, SE beta=0.05, p<0.001), and being a physician (beta=0.17, SE beta=0.05, p=0.001) were all independent predictors of score. Attendance at an ERC course (OR: 2.7 [1.5 to 4.7]), being a physician (OR: 2 [1.3 to 5]) and involvement in >10 CPRs /year (OR: 1.7 [1.1 to 2.7]) were also independent predictors for attitudes that accorded with contemporary guidelines regarding therapeutic hypothermia.

Conclusions: Attending an ERC resuscitation course, frequent involvement in CPR attempts, younger age, and being a physician were all independent predictors for more positive attitudes towards the guidelines. These factors, with the exception of age, were also associated with positive attitudes towards the implementation of therapeutic hypothermia.