title: Attitudes of healthcare professionals involved in cardiology practice towards key points of contemporary guidelines on resuscitation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not always executed in compliance with contemporary guidelines and the quality of CPR may differ among hospitals within the same country or among categories of healthcare providers and medical specialties. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes of cardiology healthcare professionals towards CPR guidelines.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous questionnaire was posted online during 2009. Responders were asked about their age, gender, occupation, and training/experience in CPR. Responders' attitudes towards CPR were assessed using 7 questions regarding the accuracy of their opinions about the automated external defibrillator, public defibrillation programs, CPR performance, and therapeutic hypothermia. A score (0 to 7) was formed by assigning grade 1 to answers that accorded with European Resuscitation Council (ERC) guidelines and grade 0 to all other answers. The reliability analysis for this score yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.78.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 544 responders (158 females), median age 34 years (30, 40). Median score was 5 (3, 6). Attending an ERC resuscitation course (beta=0.33, SE beta=0.05, p<0.001), age (beta=-0.15 SE beta=0.05, p=0.002), involvement in >10 CPRs /year (beta=0.19, SE beta=0.05, p<0.001), and being a physician (beta=0.17, SE beta=0.05, p=0.001) were all independent predictors of score. Attendance at an ERC course (OR: 2.7 [1.5 to 4.7]), being a physician (OR: 2 [1.3 to 5]) and involvement in >10 CPRs /year (OR: 1.7 [1.1 to 2.7]) were also independent predictors for attitudes that accorded with contemporary guidelines regarding therapeutic hypothermia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attending an ERC resuscitation course, frequent involvement in CPR attempts, younger age, and being a physician were all independent predictors for more positive attitudes towards the guidelines. These factors, with the exception of age, were also associated with positive attitudes towards the implementation of therapeutic hypothermia.
authors.affiliation: Konstantopouleio General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Nikolaou
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patialiakas
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patialakas
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kokkinos
authors.forename: Apostolos H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Christou
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chasikides
authors.forename: Androniki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tasouli
authors.forename: Amalia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rompola
authors.forename: Marios
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Georgiou
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marinakos
authors.forename: Theofanis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Papafanis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002309:Cardiology / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires