A Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Evaluation in Community - การประเมินผลการกู้ชีพในชุมชน

Abstract

        Evidence shows that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can prolong lives most effectively once performed within three to four minutes of a heart attack. CPR is also useful in situations such as drowning, electrocutions, drug overdoses, shock and traffic accidents. This quasi-experimental study from retrospective data was to evaluate the effectiveness of a CPR training course for health volunteers and public health personnel as part of a basic life support project in community. Forty nine participants including 33 (67.35%) health volunteers and 16 (32.65%) public health personnel in Amphoe Bang Pa-in, Changwat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya were enrolled in December, 2004 and asked to complete the pre- and post-test questionnaire before and after the intervention was introduced.

        The intervention comprised a lecture, videotape display, and step-by-step demonstration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), based on the Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care of the World Health Organization. The success indicator of the training was evaluated by comparing the pre-test and post- test scores on knowledge in CPR by paired t-test and the number of participants attending a return demonstration. Forty-five of the post-test questionnaires (91.84%) were returned. The mean scores at pre-test for health volunteers and public health personnel were 3.21 (SD 1.32) and 6.88 (SD 1.09), respectively. The mean scores at post-test for health volunteers and public health personnel were 4.73 (SD 0.94) and 8.38 (SD 1.09), respectively. The analysis showed that the mean of post-test scores was significantly different relative to the mean of pre-test scores (paired t-test, p-value <0.001). However, only 20 participants (40.82%), including 15 of 33 (45.45%) health volunteers and 5 of 16 (31.25%) public health personnel, had experiences in CPR return demonstration. The ratio of health volunteers and public health personnel in a return demonstration was 3:1 (75% vs. 25%). The basic life support project in community can strengthen knowledge of health volunteers and public health personnel significantly.

      However, the number of participants who attended a return demonstration of CPR procedures was less than 50 percent. Thus, the project should strengthen participation of health volunteers and public health personnel in the return demonstration to ensure their abilities in performing the basic life support and improve the safety of the patients and the quality of emergency service in the community.

Key words: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, cardiac arrest assessment, quality of emergency service