CPR training and subsequent performance in real life: the missing link.

摘要

In this issue, Tanigawa and colleagues report the results of a survey that was designed to determine the influence of car-diopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training on the likelihood of a bystander performing CPR.1 Emergency medical system (EMS) personnel interviewed 120 bystanders of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (either callers or those who actually performed CPR). They found that 50% of bystanders had followed previous CPR training, and 75% of these performed bystander CPR. CPR trained bystanders were 3.4 (95% CI 1.31-8.85) times more likely to perform CPR than those without previous training. In 2006 Swor and colleagues conducted telephone interviews of bystanders two weeks after the cardiac arrest event.2 They documented that 54% of bystanders had been taught CPR, which is consistent with the findings of Tanigawa and coworkers. In contrast to the Tanigawa study, only 35% of these trained bystanders performed CPR. The difference may be explained by the fact that in the study by Swor only a minority of bystanders received telephone CPR instructions, whereas in the Tanigawa study the majority received telephone CPR. Therefore, it is possible that telephone CPR has contributed to the high number of trained rescuers performing CPR.