Nurses’ knowledge towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A literature review

The vast majority of the public opinion both in Greece and in other European countries considers that health professionals, working in hospitals, have a round and high-level knowledge concerning the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) technique and are competent to effectively cope with incidents of cardiac arrest. Immediate recognition of the cardiac arrest and the implementation of effective CPR by the attendee nursing staff, can double the chance of the patient's survival. The lack of adequate training and retraining of the nursing staff in CPR is evident not only in Greek hospitals but also in those of other European countries. Recent survey results showed, that a significant proportion of nurses have not participated, since the end of their basic training, at a certified basic CPR course. Furthermore, the level of theoretical knowledge and practical skills is greatly reduced, with the lapse of a short time (3-6 months) since the initial training. The results of this review demonstrate the urgent need for systematic training and retraining of the nursing staff with accredited programs in CPR. Immediate priority of the state should be the design of certified training programs for all the healthcare workers and the development of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of the level of training.