title: Awareness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in medical-students and doctors in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Pakistan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the level of awareness regarding basic and practical knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and its importance in the eyes of medical/dental students and doctors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted in medical and dental colleges as well as hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan, from June to September 2011. Non-probability convenience sampling was used and structured questionnaires on basic and practical knowledge of the procedure were distributed. The questionnaire had 26 items related to basic and advanced knowledge of the required skills. Doctors were divided into two groups based on their years of service and practice. Those with less than 5 years' experience were grouped as junior doctors, while rest as senior doctors. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the data using SPPS version 17 and Microsoft Excel. Percentages were worked out and the results were interpreted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1000 questionnaires distributed, 646 (64.6%) were received duly filled and represented the study sample. Of the 646 participants, 34 (5.26%) were dentists, 424 (65.63%) were medical students, 92 (14.24%) were doctors and 96 (14.86%) were dental students. Basic knowledge of doctors was found to be better than that of dentists (n = 96; 50% vs. n = 8; 23%). Similarly, the advance knowledge of doctors was better than the dentists (n = 53; 58% vs. n = 11; 31%). The basic knowledge of junior doctors was found to be almost equal to the senior doctors (n = 26; 44.75% vs. n = 15; 45.5%). The advance knowledge of junior doctors was found to be better than the senior doctors (n = 27; 45.37% vs. n = 10; 29.48%). Among the students, 157 (37%) of the medical students had basic knowledge of CPR, while 36 (38%) dental students had basic knowledge of the topic. Medical students had more advanced knowledge (n = 157; 37%) than dental students (n = 34; 35%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The awareness of basic and advance knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills in medical/dental students and doctors in Rawalpindi and Islamabad was inadequate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. qurat_aini@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Quratulain
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zamir
authors.forename: Amina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nadeem
authors.forename: Arsheen Hassan
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Rizvi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires