Cardiopulmonary resuscitation: qualifications and performance of housestaff and trained internists

Eighty-six physicians in the Internal Medicine Department of the Mount Sinai Medical Center were evaluated on attitudes and knowledge of basic and advanced cardiac life support. Information was gathered over a one-week period using a self-administered questionnaire. Eighteen (21%) of the respondents did not know of the availability of basic and advanced cardiac life support courses at this institution. Of the physicians who had never taken either course, 8 (25%) stated it was because it was not offered at a convenient time or place. All housestaff officers were noted to have completed both courses, a percentage much higher than that of the trained internists (p less than .0001). Previous formal training in cardiac life support was found to be associated with a higher level of confidence in the ability to administer cardiac lifesaving techniques (p less than .0001) and a higher overall knowledge score (p = .003). We determined that the housestaff officers in internal medicine were the physicians most qualified to perform resuscitation efforts because of their completion of life support courses, their confidence in administering these techniques, and their greater overall knowledge. Wider publicity on the availability of cardiac life support courses, more convenient scheduling of such courses, and mandatory certification in basic life support for all physicians, with additional certification in advanced cardiac life support for physicians with extensive ward responsibility, are needed.