Knowledge and Attitudes towards Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation among Parents in Abha, Saudi Arabia

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest is really a leading public health problem on earth. Early identification of cardiac arrest within an unconscious patient, early service of emergency medical services, earlier cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and early defibrillation certainly are important actions for the treatment of cardiac arrest having an improved survival rate. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitudes towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among the parents of children who attended our Department of Pediatric Dentistry, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University Abha, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the sample size of 250 parents (mother or father) to estimate the level of knowledge and attitude towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in College of Dentistry King Khalid University. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared in both Arabic and English languages and distributed to all the participants. All the data were collected and analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Results: The majority of participants, 132 (64%) were said that they have knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. 35% agreed that they had ever encountered a situation that required the use of CPR. Half of the participants agreed that they have sufficient knowledge of CR. Very a smaller number of participants 15% agreed that performing CPR is simply a waste of manpower and time. 80% of participants agreed guidelines for CPR can improve the quality of healthcare. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate good CPR knowledge among educated parents. However, participants reported overwhelmingly positive attitudes and eagerness towards the implementation of CPR training. We suggest that there must be CPR courses given to parents in future.