Improvement in Confidence Levels for the Management of Paediatric Cardiac Arrests in Medical Students Following a...

Newly qualified doctors lack competency in handling a cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The ability to recall CPR fundamentals have been shown to be inadequate. Of greater concern is that medical students over - estimate their ability to deliver such aid in a real - world setting. As most medical students are only taught adult BLS they are often unskilled and/or unhelpful in managing paediatric specific emergencies. This fact is supported by the poor outcomes demonstrated in delivering successful Paediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS).

Our aim was to evaluate the baseline confidence levels of medical students in dealing with a paediatric cardiac arrest (PCA) and the improvement seen following a PBLS training course.

A prospective study was conducted on 51 medical students who attended an established one - day PBLS and first aid course at one UK medical school. Participants were requested to complete a questionnaire directly prior to and after the course.

Following the delivery of the training, the cohort reported a statistically significant (P < 0.05) increase in mean confidence with PCA from 2.2/10 (2.2 out of 10) to 7.5/10. A pre - training mean confidence score of 2.6/10 was observed for Year 4 and 5 students who are close to graduating.

Our findings clearly demonstrate very poor confidence among medical students with PCA at all stages of their training. We would strongly advocate the inclusion of a PBLS component in medical school curriculums so that future doctors are adequately prepared to deliver PBLS with confidence.