Abstract
Background: Sudden cardiac arrest is a major public health problem in the world. Immediate initiation of high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) significantly increased patient survival rate. Therefore, it is very important to train young people and increase public awareness of CPR for the long-term benefit of the community.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitudes towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among the dental students of College of Dentistry King Khalid University Abha, Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the sample size of 250 Male dental Students of College of Dentistry King Khalid University Abha, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared in both Arabic and English languages and distributed to all the participants. All the data were collected and analyzed by using SPSS version 21.
Results: The majority of participants, 124 (60%) were said that they have knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. 28% agreed that they had ever encountered a situation that required the use of CPR. Half of the participants agreed that they have sufficient knowledge of CR. 75% of the dental students said that they attended training course of CPR. When asked about the performing CPR is more harmful to the patients rather than being beneficial, majority of participant's (64%) did not agree with this.
Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate good CPR knowledge dental students. However, participants reported overwhelmingly positive attitudes and eagerness towards the implementation of CPR training. Further research needs to be done to establish CPR skill proficiency.