ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Nurses are usually first witnesses to in-hospital sudden cardiac arrests. Training of nurses has an impact on the efficiency and outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and thus, assessment of CPR knowledge among undergraduate nurses is very important to improve training program. METHODS: The questionnaire comprised of three parts about CPR knowledge: the first dealing with general questions to understand the importance of CPR in clinical practice; the second comprising the main goal and accuracy of CPR intervention; and the last consisting of questions targeting the indications, methods, and effectiveness of CPR. Descriptive statistics and multiple response analyses were done by IBM SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The students had good knowledge about the importance of CPR in clinical practice and stood average in knowing its indications and effectiveness. The mean score was 64.62±17.84 out of 100 points. While only 11% of them were completely aware about the universal compression ventilation ratio, 16.2% were aware of the current compression depth. In addition, 21.8% of participants have only indicated the order of CPR being compression, airway, and breathing. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of CPR is good among the nursing students. However, skills of CPR have to be improved by current training programs at regular intervals. Their knowledge and practical approach have to be updated with the current guidelines in CPR.
Subject(s)
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation , Clinical Competence , Death, Sudden, Cardiac/prevention & control , Students, Nursing , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate , Humans , Surveys and Questionnaires , TurkeyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown an association between high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and arterial stiffness in most cardiovascular diseases. High sensitive C-reactive protein and arterial stiffness have been considered as independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality in cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between hsCRP, a marker of systemic inflammation and aortic stiffness in patients with coronary artery ectasia (CAE). METHODS: Our study was designed as cross-sectional study. Serum hsCRP levels and aortic stiffness parameters were measured in CAE patients (n=28) and age - and gender-matched control subjects (n=25). Serum hsCRP levels were determined by an immunonephelometry assay. Aortic strain (AS) and aortic distensibility (AD) were calculated from the aortic diameters measured using M-mode echocardiography and blood pressure obtained by sphygmomanometry. Independent samples "t" test, Chi-square test and Spearman correlation test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Serum levels of hsCRP in CAE group were higher than in the controls (p<0.001). AS and AD were significantly decreased in CAE patients compared to the controls (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). There were negative correlations between hsCRP and AS (r=-0.862; p<0.001), and AD (r=0.852; p<0.001) and a positive correlation between hsCRP, and ASI (r=0.852; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between serum hsCRP levels and aortic stiffness in patients with CAE. These findings may indicate an important role of hsCRP in the pathogenesis of impaired aortic stiffness in coronary ectasia.
