The level of knowledge of pediatricians on defibrillation

Abstract

Objective: Defibrillation is part of the life-saving chain. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge of pediatricians on defibrillation procedures.

Material and Methods: The questionnaire was administered to 308 pediatricians. The specialists were grouped according to their experience as under 5 years, 5-10 years and over 10 years while the research assistants were classified as 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year. Subjects with 0-2 correct answers were classified as less knowledgeable, 3-5 as moderately knowledgeable and 6-8 as knowledgeable.

Results: A small percentage of the physicians had received training on the defibrillation procedure. The self-sufficiency rate for the use of the defibrillator device was around 50% in those who received training and around 20% among all physicians. The mean number of correct answers given to the 8 questions used to evaluate the level of knowledge was 4.36±1.77. Approximately half of the subjects (51%) had a moderate level of knowledge. The level of knowledge of the pediatricians who examined patients, had been trained on defibrillator use and used one themselves was significantly higher. The number of correct answers increased as the subject's self-assessment of his/her adequacy increased. There was a significant difference between the level of knowledge of specialists with less than and over 10 years of experience.

Conclusion: We found that pediatricians participating in our study did not have adequate defibrillation knowledge. We believe that updating defibrillator device training and increasing the relevant self-confidence before the level of knowledge decreases is very important.

Keywords

• cardiac arrest,cardiopulmonary resuscitation,defibrillation,level of knowledge,pediatrician

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