Assessment of knowledge, attitude and associated factors of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among anesthetists working in governmental and private hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Institutional based cross-sectional study

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an important medical procedure which is needed for individuals who face sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is a life-threatening condition and a leading cause of death among adults over the age of 40 years in the United States and other countries. Reports showed that about 1,000,000 people die of cardiac arrest every year in the United States and Europe. To assess knowledge, attitude and associated factors of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among anesthetists working in governmental and private hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Addis Ababa governmental and private hospitals from March to August, 2014. Simple random sampling was used and structured questionnaires on cardiopulmonary resuscitation which is adopted from American Heart Association were distributed. The questionnaire had 20 items related to anesthetists’ knowledge regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation and 8 items related to their attitude towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Anesthetists were divided on the base of their age, gender, experience, private and governmental hospitals, training they took previously and level of education. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the data using SPSS version 20 and participants’ level of attitude was measured by using a Likert scale. Percentages were worked out and the results were interpreted. From a total of 150 anesthetist participants, 140 of them or 93.3% scored below 84%. Those participants who were trained by CPR specialists, trained very recently, have higher degree and higher experience scored higher than their counter parts in items of level of knowledge. The level of knowledge on cardiopulmonary resuscitation among anesthetists working in Addis Ababa governmental and private hospitals was found to be poor (93.3%) according to 84% American Heart Association reference for CPR certification.