In her doctoral thesis, Jennie Silverplats has taken a closer look at situations when patients suffer cardiac arrest in hospital and are treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The results show deficiencies in knowledge and skills in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation among the hospital staff. The research also shows that national guidelines from the National Board of Health and Welfare and the CPR Council are not followed by the hospitals.
– We have looked at the competence in two regions and adherence to guidelines in four regions, so it is likely that it looks the same in several places, says Jennie Silverplats.
Type of business matters
The results show differences between different types of care wards.
– Healthcare staff in monitoring wards appear to have higher competence in cardiopulmonary resuscitation than staff in care wards and receptions. Adherence to the guidelines was also higher in these departments, says Jennie Silverplats.
Competence can therefore be a factor, but it can also be the experience of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, says Jennie Silverplats.
The staff needs to practice more
Based on the results, according to Jennie Silverplats, there is one measure that is more important than others.
– The most important thing is to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation according to guidelines from the CPR Council, ideally every six months but at least once a year, says Jennie Silverplats.
According to Jennie Silverplats, just under half of the staff questioned in the survey answered that they had practiced cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the past year.