Willingness to Perform Chest Compression Only in Witnessed Cardiac Arrest Victims versus Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Iran

Background: Performing immediate bystander Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is the most important factor that determines survival from cardiac arrest. Recommended mouth to mouth ventilation maneuver during CPR has led to lower rate of CPR performance in the population.

Objectives: The present survey aimed to evaluate the willingness of nurses at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for performing CPR versus chest-compression-only CPR.

Patients and Methods: During a CPR course, we performed a survey on 25 nurses from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. This survey included age and gender of the participants. In the first question, they were asked about their willingness to perform CPR with mouth to mouth breathing for witnessed cardiac arrest victims. In the second question, they were asked about their willingness to perform chest compression only for cardiac arrest victims.

Results: Among the participating nurses, 96% were female with a mean age of 31 years. Only 40% were willing to perform CPR that requires mouth to mouth ventilation. On the other hand, 92% were willing to perform chest compression only without mouth to mouth ventilation. The mean age of the nurses who would do CPR was lower compared to those who would not.

Conclusions: In this survey, we demonstrated that eliminating mouth to mouth ventilation maneuver could lead to markedly higher willingness to perform CPR for witnessed cardiac arrest victims in CPR trained nursing personnel. Our study is in agreement with other studies advocating that chest-compression-only CPR could lead to higher bystander resuscitation efforts.