Determinants of the quality of basic life support by hospital nurses.
BACKGROUND
Good quality basic life support (BLS) results in better survival. BLS is a core competence of nurses but despite regular refresher training, the quality of BLS is often poor and the reasons for this are not well known. We therefore investigated the relation between BLS quality and some of its potential determinants.


METHODS
During a BLS refresher course, 296 nurses from non-critical care wards completed a questionnaire including demographic data and a "self-confidence" score. Subsequently, they performed a BLS test on a manikin connected to a PC using Skillreporting System software (Laerdal, Norway). The following variables were recorded: number of ventilations/min, tidal volume, number of compressions/min, compression rate, compression depth, "good ventilation" (n >or=4 min(-1) and tidal volume=700-1000 ml) and "good compression" (n >or=40 min(-1) and rate=80-120 min(-1) and compression depth=40-50mm). To detect independent determinants of BLS quality, associations between the demographic data and the objective variables of BLS quality were examined.


RESULTS
Forty-three percent of the nurses rated their confidence as good or very good. Male gender was associated with good compression (P<0.001). Greater self-confidence was also associated with good ventilation (P<0.03) and with good compression (P<0.001). A short time since last BLS training was associated with a higher number of ventilations/min (P=0.01). A short time since last experience of CPR was associated with a higher number of compressions (P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Male gender, greater self-confidence, recent BLS training and recent CPR were associated with better quality of BLS.
Verplancke
T
T
Department of Emergency Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Thierry.Verplancke@UGent.be
De Paepe
P
P
Calle
P A
PA
De Regge
M
M
Van Maele
G
G
Monsieurs
K G
KG
D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education* / Q000451:nursing*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000451:nursing*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008348:Manikins; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires