IJCS | Volume 33, Nº2, March / April 2020

DOI: 10.5935/2359-4802.20190089 167 ORIGINAL ARTICLE International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 2020; 33(2):167-174 Mailing Address: Eduardo Moreira Novaes Neto Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana - Rua B, 35. Postal Code: 44021-000, Conjunto Feira VI - Campo Limpo, Feira de Santana, BA – Brazil. E-mail: eduardo.moreira18@hotmail.com Factors Associated to the Knowledge of Cardiac Arrest by Health Professionals Eduardo Moreira Novaes Net o a nd Kátia Santana Freita s Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, BA – Brazil Manuscript received on August 08, 2018, revised manuscript on May 10, 2019, accepted on June 10, 2019. Abstract Background: Knowledge of cardiac arrest by health professionals is associatedwith sociodemographic, occupational and training characteristics. Objectives: To evaluate the factors associated with the knowledge of health professionals on Cardiac Arrest. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in a large public hospital in the countryside of Bahia - Brazil. The sample consisted of 18 doctors, 32 nurses and 50 nursing technicians. To evaluate the knowledge of the professionals, a questionnaire was constructed according to the current guidelines for resuscitation of the American Heart Association of 2015, and after that, it was submitted to three judges with expertise in PCR to verify content validity. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics with univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses using the logistic regression model. A value of p < 0.05 was adopted as level of significance. Results: The prevalence of insufficient knowledge of cardiac arrest among health professionals was 78%. After logistic regression, belonging to the professional category of nursing technician (p = 0.003) and nurse (p = 0.001) and working in the form of on-call duty for 24h (p = 0.005) was associated to insufficient knowledge. Conclusions: Insufficient knowledge of cardiac arrest among health professionals is high, which is a problem that requires urgent interventions in order to guarantee the quality of care. These actions should be based on realistic scenarios involving theoretical and practical activities. The periodicity of training should be short, given the deterioration of knowledge. The creation and validation of the data collection instrument allows for its applicability in other studies. (Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2020; 33(2):167-174) Keywords: Heart Failure; Heart Arrest; Cardiopulmonary Ressuscitation; Health Personnel; Mortality & Morbidity; Nurses. Introduction Cardiac arrest (CA) is a serious life-threatening emergency situation. Among all life-threatening emergencies, this is considered the most fearsome, since the chance of the victim surviving is directly related to fast, safe and effective care. 1 According to theBrazilianSocietyofCardiology, 200,000 cardiac arrests occur annually inBrazil, and approximately half of these occur in a hospital environment. 2 CA is a situation that requires immediate and rapid action by health professionals, since it involves risk to the patient, given that the chance of survival after the event ranges from 2% to 49%, depending on the initial heart rate and early initiation of resuscitation. 3 However, survival may double or triple when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed with high quality. 4 The high morbidity and mortality rate caused by CPR, as well as the risk of imminent death and the high chances of disability that this event can cause, support the conduction of a survey of the knowledge among health professionals on this topic, since this knowledge can be related to several characteristics, such as sociodemographic, occupational and professional training, even with the presence of guidelines and protocols for CPR.