Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation among Clinical Undergraduate Students in Selected Medical Colleges in Southern Nigerian Universities

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Basic life support skills are important in emergency health care services. The knowledge as well as level of practice of resuscitation procedures and techniques among clinical undergraduate students in Nigeria appears to be inadequate. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and its relationship with socio-demographic characteristics of clinical undergraduate students in selected medical colleges in Southern Nigerian universities. Materials and Methods: Using a cross sectional approach, 432 respondents were recruited across three medical colleges in Southern Nigerian Universities. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge, attitude and practice of CPR both virtually using Google forms and physically. Data obtained was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Level of significance was set at p=0.05. Results and Conclusion: The results of this study showed that majority (n= 416, 96.3%) of the participants had good knowledge of CPR, 304 (70.4%) had positive attitude towards CPR; however, 372 (86.1%) had not previously practiced CPR. There were no significant relationships among sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude of CPR (p>0.05). However, there were significant relationships between practice of CPR and course of study (χ2=18.885, p=0.0001), gender (χ2=7.548, p=0.006), and level of study (χ2=22.985, p=0.0001). The knowledge of clinical students about CPR across all universities was good and the participants had an overall positive attitude towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, the level of practice was low amongst all participants. There is a need to have regular CPR training and assessment since prior CPR exposure results in knowledge retention.