title: Assessment of the general knowledge of emergency physicians from the hospitals of the city of Salvador (Brazil) on the care of cardiac arrest patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the proportion of emergency physicians certified in immersion courses (ACLS--Advanced Cardiac Life Support and ATLS--Advanced Trauma Life Support) correlating the variables of age, gender, medical specialty, academic title, and type of hospital with the level of theoretical knowledge on the care of Cardiac Arrest (CA) victims.
  
  
  METHODS
  Emergency physicians from public and private hospitals of the city of Salvador, State of Bahia--Brazil, were consecutively evaluated from November, 2003 to July, 2004. They volunteered to participate in the study, and responded to a questionnaire consisting of information on the following variables of interest: professional profile, participation or not in ACLS and ATLS immersion courses, and cognitive assessment with 22 objective questions on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). A score of correct answers was calculated for each participant, and then designated as score variable. This questionnaire was validated based on the result of the score obtained by ACLS course instructors in Salvador, BA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 305 physicians who responded to the questionnaire, 83 (27.2%) had attended the ACLS course and had a mean score variable of 14.9+3.0 compared with the 215 physicians (70.5%) who had not attended the course and whose mean was 10.5+ 3.5 (p=0.0001). The mean score of the 65 cardiologists (21.5%) was 14.1+3.3 compared with the mean of 9.7+3.7(p=0.0001) of the 238 physicians (78.5%) from other specialties. No difference was observed in the mean scores between physicians who had attended the ATLS course or not (p=0.67).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the sample studied, theoretical knowledge on CPR was higher among physicians who had attended the ACLS course, as opposed to those who had attended the ATLS course. Cardiologists who had attended the ACLS demonstrated a higher theoretical knowledge on the care of CA patients when compared to physicians from other specialties taken as whole--Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopedics.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia, Faculdade de Medicina, Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos, Salvador, BA, Brazil. nfilgueiras@cardiol.br
authors.forename: Nivaldo Menezes
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Filgueiras Filho
authors.forename: Antônio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bandeira
authors.forename: Thales
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Delmondes
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Alberto Soares
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Vinicius
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vilas-Boas
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabelo Junior
mesh_terms: D022561:Advanced Cardiac Life Support / Q000193:education*; D001938:Brazil; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires