Cuban teachers experiences in cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiorespiratory arrest affects an average of 500,000 people each year in the United States and is considered an event of public health concern. These statistics have demonstrated the importance of teacher training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at all educational levels.

Objective: To characterize the CPR experience of Cuban teachers.

Methods: An observational, descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 87 Cuban teachers, selected by non-probabilistic intentional sampling. Descriptive statistics were used.

Results: The main obstacles to learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation were the lack of institutional support (49.4%) and the complexity of the subject (36.8%). Regarding self-assessment of the level of knowledge of CPR, 57.5% considered that they had a poor level of knowledge. 20 percent reported having had experiences during professional practice in which knowledge of CPR would have been useful. Only 14% had received training in resuscitation. 98.9% considered that the inclusion of CPR in the syllabi of future teachers is necessary.

Conclusions: It is concluded that, despite the scarce training on resuscitation maneuvers provided to Cuban teachers, there is great perception of its importance and disposition towards improvement in this subject. The key to increase the training of teachers in this topic is to increase institutional support and define strategies that favor an environment in which teachers of the health system are integrated with those of the Ministry of Education for a common goal.