EVALUATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF URMIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT ADULT CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION .

Cardiac arrest is the most common emergency with grave consequences but the high mortality can be easily prevented most of the times by some very simple maneuvers and skills. This condition can be easily managed by knowledge and practice of resuscitation skills. This study was performed to evaluate the knowledge of undergraduate medical students on Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ACLS).

Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted using responses to a questionnaire regarding BLS and ACLS by 61 medical students. The knowledge about standardized cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was evaluated using a written multiple choice test, 20 questions about BLS and 20 questions about ACLS. The results were analyzed with SPSS version 15.

Results:�The findings showed a severe lack of information about CPR in this group of medical students. The average scores of the BLS and ACLS tests among the students were 9.68±2.96 points from 20 questions and 8.36�±2.98 points respectively. Their awareness about BLS was significantly higher than ACLS (p=0.016).

Conclusion : Our results showed that medical students ’ knowledge about CPR was not sufficient. Inclusion of this course in the undergraduate curriculum will increase the awareness and application of this valuable life saving maneuver.