Perception of small animal cardiopulmonary resuscitation of owners presenting to a small animal teaching clinic including a large first opinion service

Objective To gather information from veterinary clients to better understand and gauge the knowledge level and perception of small animal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in an academic veterinary hospital. Design Prospective cross-sectional survey. Setting A veterinary teaching hospital including a large first opinion service. Interventions None. Measurements and main results An anonymous survey was developed to gauge the knowledge of veterinary clients on a variety of CPR related topics at a university veterinary hospital. Surveys were randomly distributed to a convenience sample of clients in the waiting room through the client services staff between October 2017 and March 2018. Of the 451 surveys distributed, 296 were used for the statistical analysis. The majority of respondents (92%) knew the appropriate definition of CPR but only 11% knew how to perform CPR on a dog or cat. Most respondents (82%) wanted to discuss their pet's CPR status at a veterinary visit. The mean +/- SD estimate of rate of discharge from hospital after cardiac arrest was 39.4 +/- 25.6% and the majority of respondents (202 [68%]) got their estimate from an educated guess. The respondents who elected CPR that day provided an estimated cost of 257 +/- 365 USD while the respondents who elected not to have CPR provided an estimated cost of 491 +/- 875 USD;P = 0.019. The respondents that watched television medical dramas estimated a higher rate of survival to discharge at 42 +/- 25%, while people who did not watch television medical dramas provided an estimated survival rate of 35 +/- 26%;P = 0.034. Conclusions Inaccurate perceptions regarding CPR and survival rates exist among the general public; however, respondents are interested in becoming better informed.