Nurses' confidence in taking part in cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

Abstract

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one of the most important nursing skills as it has the power to save a human life. Nurses on the ward are usually the first to become aware that a patient has gone into cardiac arrest and therefore their immediate action in starting the chain of survival determines the outcome of the patient. The aim of this study was to explore the nurses' confidence when taking part in CPR and find out what factors could help increase the nurses' confidence and what factors could decrease their confidence when taking part in CPR. Another objective was to evaluate the nurses' perception regarding the CPR training. The sample consisted of 30 nurses working in Medical and Surgical wards at the acute general hospital in Malta. A response rate of 70% was achieved. The research tool utilized was a self administered questionnaire partly adapted from the survey used by (Evans, 2002). Findings revealed that most of the nurses who participated in the study feel confident in starting CPR prior to the arrival of the CPR team and one third of the respondents attributed this confidence due to their work experience. More than half of the respondents feel comfortable in assisting the CPR team. However, nine respondents report that they are not confident in assisting the CPR team and various reasons mostly related to the CPR team itself were given. Participants stated that the factor which can mostly increase their confidence in CPR is to continue education and training and the factor which mostly decreases their confidence during CPR is to work in a disorganized environment. Another important finding is that although most of the respondents are shown were the resuscitation trolley is once they start to work on the wards, only twelve respondents were shown how to use it and less than half received any instructions regarding resuscitation procedures in the ward. Most of the respondents have attended basic life support training and they rated the CPR training as being good, as it directly increased their confidence in CPR. However, there were respondents who wished to have more intensive training and practice. Based on this research study, the author put forward a number of recommendations such as the inclusion of leadership and communication skills in the Basic Life Support training in order to help the nurses manage a CPR attempt better.