Evaluation of a dental practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation training scheme

Between 1992 and 1993, 411 members of staff in 50 dental practices were trained on site in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Eighteen months after the initial training, 25 practices which had been randomly chosen were re-visited to assess the staff's residual proficiency. Most of the evaluations made by the staff were inadequate, with either omissions or errors in technique when assessing the airway, checking for breathing, or for the presence of a pulse. There were also prolonged delays in the resuscitations, and the mean number of ventilations and compressions that were given were too few, and most were incorrect. Overall, the results lend further support to the concept of periodical supervised re-training.