IJCS | Volume 33, Nº2, March / April 2020

DOI: 10.5935/2359-4802.20190084 151 ORIGINAL ARTICLE International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 2020; 33(2):151-157 Mailing Address: Douglas Marostica Catolino Pontíficia Universidade Católica do Paraná - Medicina - R. Imac. Conceição, 1155. Postal Code: 80215-901, Prado Velho, Curitiba, PR - Brazil. E-mail: douglasmarostica@gmail.com Medical Behavior in Cardiorespiratory Arrest before and After Simulation Based on Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Course Douglas Marostica Catolin o a nd José Knofhol z Pontíficia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, PR – Brazil Manuscript received on October 02, 2018, revised manuscript on May 27, 2019, accepted on June 10, 2019. Abstract Background: The Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course is designed to teach cardiovascular emergency, aiming to promote a harmonious and synchronized work of the entire hospital team, making the multidisciplinary job more effective in the execution of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Objective: To compare the effectiveness of CPR performed between physicians trained on ACLS and non-trained physicians. Methods: A questionnaire was applied to physicians working at the emergency room of hospitals in Curitiba, state of Paraná, whose resolution required theoretical and practical knowledge about CPR. For analysis, descriptive statistics and Fisher's association analysis were used, and the medians of the groups were evaluated by Mann- Whitney/Kruskal-Wallis with significance of 5%. Results: Thirty-four physicians were volunteers, of whom 20 had taken the ACLS course (Group A) and 14 had not (Group B). The trained physicians obtained the highest median (4.00 vs. 3.00, p = 0.06) of correct answers. Group A scored at least 3 of the 5 questions in the questionnaire, showing better performance than Group B (OR = 6.75, 95% CI, 1.1 < OR < 41.0, p = 0.04). The year of the course did not significantly change the performance in the questionnaire. Conclusion: It is suggested that the ACLS course was effective in qualifying physicians to handle situations of cardiorespiratory arrest properly, which was reproduced by the better performance in the resolution of the questionnaire. It is believed that when the sample of volunteers is increased, the trends found materialize the other hypotheses proposed. (Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2020; 33(2):151-157) Keywords: Cardiopulmonary, Resuscitation; Advanced Cardiac Life Support/training; Heart Arrest. Introduction Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) is a course that has occurred in Brazil since 1996 and is designed to teach cardiovascular emergency. It starts with the simulation of real-life situations through a standard way of teaching an ideal clinical management professional in the medical field. The course structure is periodically reviewed according to new versions provided by the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines. 1 In recent years, cardiovascular emergency courses have been applied to a larger number of physicians working in emergency rooms or elsewhere. 2 It is known that since its introduction, ACLS has undergone a series of conceptual and structural changes. The course has turned its focus on solving cases with defined objectives, and practical activities were emphasized. Modifications included theoretical updates according to evidence- based medicine and guidelines applied to the new teaching approach.¹