A new community-based cardiopulmonary resuscitation training program for primary care: needs assessment, development,...

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Public Health
• Cardiovascular Science

Background:

• Public awareness and familiarity with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are low.
• Existing CPR training programs are not comprehensive.
• The general population's interest in learning CPR is largely unquantified.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess CPR interest and knowledge among primary care patients.
• To develop a novel CPR training program tailored for the primary care setting.
• To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of this new CPR training initiative.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase study involving patient surveys to gauge CPR knowledge and interest.
• Design of a 90-minute CPR training program based on European guidelines.
• Pilot testing of the program assessing CPR skills, automated external defibrillator (AED) usage, and chest compression quality via manikin testing.

Main Results:

• Only 26.16% of 243 surveyed patients had prior CPR training, with just 5% knowing how to perform CPR.
• A significant 84.8% of participants expressed interest in learning CPR.
• Post-training, 100% felt capable of CPR with AED use, 94% showed AED proficiency, and 20% achieved high-quality chest compressions.

Conclusions:

• The general population demonstrates a strong interest in acquiring CPR skills despite limited current knowledge.
• A primary care-based training program can effectively equip bystanders with essential CPR and AED skills.
• This training approach holds potential for improving survival outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.