Greek BLS Certified Providers’ CPR Willingness and Skill Retention During the Pre-Vaccine Covid-19 Pandemic Period. A Survey of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology

Abstract

George Latsios,1,* Andreas Synetos,1,* Marianna Leopoulou,2 Evaggelia Stamatopoulou,3 Panagiotis Koukopoulos,4 Charalambos Parisis,5 Antonios Karanasos,1 Paraskevi Fragkou,6 Konstantinos Toutouzas,1 John Kanakakis,7 Kostas Tsioufis1 1First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, “Hippocration” General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 2Department of Cardiology, “Elpis” General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 3Catheterization Laboratory, University of Athens Medical School, “Attikon” University Hospital, Athens, Greece; 4Emergency Medical Service, Athens, Greece; 5 404 General Military Hospital, Larissa, Greece; 6First Department of ICU, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, “Evaggelismos” General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 7Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, “Alexandra” Hospital, Athens, Greece*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: George Latsios, 1st Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, AlexAndroupoleos 9, Athens, 11527, Email [email protected]: The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of established knowledge regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during the pre-vaccine Covid-19 pandemic era of certified Basic Life Support (BLS) providers, as well as their attitude towards CPR and their willingness to provide CPR.Methods: Certified BLS providers from courses held in Athens, Greece, were asked to complete an electronic survey regarding their knowledge of and stance towards performing CPR on victims with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 infection. Their insight on BLS courses was also assessed. Answers were collected during June 2020.Results: Out of 5513 certified providers, 25.53% completed the survey. The majority (83.36%) would provide CPR to a cardiac arrest victim with possible or confirmed Covid-19 infection. Regarding the use of an automated external defibrillator, most respondents anticipated that it is equally safe as in the pre-Covid-19 period (58.24%). A more elementary level of education (p = 0.04) made rescuers more willing to provide CPR. Access to the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) or to the Greek National Public Health Organization (NPHO) guidelines was not correlated to the attitude towards resuscitation. Time since the last BLS seminar had no impact on the rescuers’ attitude (p = 0.72). All responders agreed that training in CPR during Covid-19 remains necessary.Conclusion: Certified BLS providers maintained their willingness to perform CPR in cardiac arrest victims even during the pre-vaccine, dangerous Covid-19 pandemic period. Knowledge regarding Covid-19 CPR was satisfactory; however, continuous training, focused on the revised algorithms, was considered essential.Keywords: BLS, covid-19, resuscitation, survey

Keywords

• bls
• covid-19
• resuscitation
• survey