Medical Student Knowledge about Basic Life Support in the Attendance of Cardiorespiratory Arrest Care

Abstract: Introduction: Cardiorespiratory Arrest (CRA) is characterized as an interruption or reduction of mechanical activity of the heart and breath activity. As a result of reduction of oxygen and nutrients for the corporal tissue, there is risk of death, which makes the CRA a severe medical emergency. In this context, the correct performance of basic life support in prehospital treatment is of fundamental importance to diminish the mortality rate and complications in CRA victims. Considering the importance of the topic in medical teaching, the present study was aimed at identifying the knowledge of medical students about the subject, in a way to verify whether the students know how to identify the signals that indicate a cardiorespiratory arrest, the sequence of measures applied during the prehospital care of CRA victims, and the adequate techniques for the medical procedure. Method: The present study adopted an observational, exploratory, descriptive and quantitative approach, with a sample of 245 students of the medicine course at Universidade Estadual do Pará. To collect the samples, one quiz containing 18 questions was used and applied with Google Forms. Results: The knowledge of the students was satisfactory, with significant increase of performance at later periods of the course. The more limited knowledge included the management of compression techniques; the correct use of the automated external defibrillator (AED) and airway management. Conclusions: Although there was a high amount of hits, the necessity of a better approach on the topic was observed during medical training, to enable the correct prehospital treatment of CRA victims, due to the importance of such procedure in medical emergency.