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19-Jan-2016
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Arch Hellen Med, 33(1), January-February 2016, 51-54 ORIGINAL PAPER Investigation of knowledge of the general population on basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation I. Trikilis, A. Spyrou, E. Petrou |
OBJECTIVE Investigation of the knowledge of a population sample in Athens, Greece, on the use of and information about the National Center for Emergency Care (166), and of the knowledge concerning basic life support (BLS).
METHOD This descriptive study was conducted by telephone interview of a randomly selected sample, using multiple choice questionnaires. Pearson's Χ squared test and Student's t-test were used to analyze the relationship between knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and demographic variables. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), v. 17.0 and the significance level was set at p<0.05.
RESULTS Of the 117 respondents, 58.8% were male and 41.2% female and their average age was 53.6±1.5 years. The proportion of the sample having completed higher education was 46.7%. Of the respondents, 60% did not know what BLS is, but most (90%) were aware of the emergency phone number 166. Only 16.6% were aware of the symptoms of a serious cardiac event, while 60.1% could identify whether the victim is breathing or not. The general level of knowledge about BLS was associated with the educational level (p<0.001) and age (p=0.002).
CONCLUSIONS The level of knowledge and education of the population on BLS is very low. The need for organized and systematic education of the population is of paramount importance.
Key words: Basic life support, Citizen, Sudden cardiac death.
