Knowledge of Iranian medical interns regarding cardio-pulmonary resuscitation

Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is one of the most important procedures in emergency medicine. As new trends are evolving in medical education , we planned to evaluate the interests and knowledge of medical students regarding educational methods in CPR learning.

In a cross-sectional analytical descriptive study, a standardized questionnaire was distributed among 180 medical interns at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The questionnaire had three parts: demographics, general questions, and CPR knowledge. If they had more than 10 correct answers (out of 15) in knowledge, they were placed in group A and if more than 5, in group B and correct answers less than 5 were categorized in group C.

159 interns filled the questionnaires. Mean age was 24.99 ± 0.96 and 56.5% were female; 52.7% were educated only theoretically and 47.3% had combined theoretical and clinical knowledge; male interns were significantly more educated (P = 0.041). Residents were the majority of trainers (56.8%) and only 14.3% were educated by the staffs. Only 7% mentioned that they felt they could do a complete CPR and 37.3% considered themselves as assistants; 93.7% believed that isolated emergency ward and teaching courses were needed for better education and 95% declared that continuous education is obligatory; 33.5% were in group A and 45.8% were in group B.

CPR education is of interest to most interns. Due to lack of emergency medicine wards and, the interns' knowledge and their practical skills were insufficient to perform acceptable CPR.