Evaluation of the nurses knowledge and anxiety levels about cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Introduction and Aim: Cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) is one of the leading causes of death in many countries of the world. In CPA cases, it is essential to perform emergency and appropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the patient's recovery. For this reason, especially nurses working in emergency and intensive care units expect significant responsibilities. In addition to knowing new approaches and treatments, it is crucial to be able to control anxiety during CPR. Our study was carried out descriptively in order to evaluate the impact of both knowledge levels about CPR and CPR knowledge levels on anxiety in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Material and Methods: The universe and sample of the study consisted of 90 nurses, 30 nurses from each of the emergency department, intensive care unit, and other services of Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University Research and Application Hospital. The data were obtained by applying the "Sociodemographic Questionnaire Form for Nurses," "Penn State Anxiety Scale," and "Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Information Questions." Data statistics were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 19, SPSS Inc. An IBM Co., Somers, NY. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for the relationship between quantitative variables. Results: It was determined that 67.77% of the participants were female, and 53.3% were married. The average age of females was 29.78 years, and the average age of males was 62.68 years. When the total CPR scores were compared with gender, age, and marital status, no significant difference was found between the groups. When total Penn State Anxiety scores and genders were compared, it was found that females were more anxious than males. A significant difference was found between the total CPR scores of the emergency nurses and the other nurses commissioned in different departments. Conclusion: Due to our results; It was determined that the average of the correct answers given by the nurses commissioned in the emergency department to the CPR questions was higher, and the total Penn State Anxiety scores were lower than nurses laboring in other departments. In line with the results, a simulation center should be established, and CPR courses should be implemented with different methods (such as interactive training, educational films, reference books). Keywords: Resucitation, Nurse, Anxiety, Knowledge level.