The use of basic life support skills by hospital staff; what skills should be taught?

To assess the frequency of use of basic life support (BLS) skills among hospital staff of all disciplines.

Postal survey of 9600 teaching hospital staff.

3807 respondents from all disciplines.

Frequency of attendance, and the use of BLS skills, at patients with cardiopulmonary arrest.

Most respondents reported having attended BLS training previously: 27.9% in the prior 6 months; 24.5% 6-12 months previously; 17.1% over 1 year ago; and 11.5% over 2 years ago. 17.1% reported never having received BLS training. 1.9% gave no valid response. Nearly half of all respondents had never attended a cardiopulmonary arrest. Among those most likely to have attended, i.e. qualified nursing and medical staff, the median frequency of attendance was less than once per year. Ventilation delivered using a pocket mask or bag-valve-mask was reported by 9.4 and 29.2% of respondents, respectively. Less than 7% reported the use of mouth-to-mouth ventilation. Only among qualified nursing (8.8%) and medical (24.7%) staff did this proportion exceed 5%. The vast majority of non-qualified nursing staff (84.9%), allied health professionals (86%) and administrative and clerical staff (98%) had used neither chest compressions nor mouth-to-mouth ventilation.

Some skills taught during BLS training are used infrequently in the in-hospital situation. The likelihood of attendance at arrest events and of the use of BLS skills is extremely low among some identified professional groups. BLS skills teaching should be targeted at those groups most likely to actually use them in order to make best use of the resources available.