Extensive variability in vasoactive agent therapy: a nationwide survey in Chinese intensive care units.

BACKGROUND: Inconsistencies in the use of the vasoactive agent therapy to treat shock are found in previous studies. A descriptive study was proposed to investigate current use of vasoactive agents for patients with shock in Chinese intensive care settings. METHODS: A nationwide survey of physicians was conducted from August 17 to December 30, 2012. Physicians were asked to complete a questionnaire which focused on the selection of vasoactive agents, management in the use of vasopressor/inotropic therapy, monitoring protocols when using these agents, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: The response rate was 65.1% with physicians returning 586 valid questionnaires. Norepinephrine was the first choice of a vasopressor used to treat septic shock by 70.8% of respondents; 73.4% of respondents favored dopamine for hypovolemic shock; and 68.3% of respondents preferred dopamine for cardiogenic shock. Dobutamine was selected by 84.1%, 64.5%, and 60.6% of respondents for septic, hypovolemic, and cardiogenic shock, respectively. Vasodilator agents were prescribed by physicians in the management of cardiogenic shock (67.1%) rather than for septic (32.3%) and hypovolemic shock (6.5%). A significant number of physicians working in teaching hospitals were using vasoactive agents in an appropriate manner when compared to physicians in nonteaching hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Vasoactive agent use for treatment of shock is inconsistent according to self-report by Chinese intensive care physicians; however, the variation in use depends upon the form of shock being treated and the type of hospital; thus, corresponding educational programs about vasoactive agent use for shock management should be considered.

Awareness and attitudes of Chinese students towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

BACKGROUND: A large number of sudden cardiac arrests occur annually, but the worldwide survival rate is less than 1%. Early initiation of bystander Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) would improve the survival rate of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests. Students play an important role as bystanders on and off campus both now and in the future. So we wanted to investigate the awareness and attitudes towards CPR of Chinese students, in order to improve the dissemination of bystander CPR in China. METHODS: The survey was conducted by questionnaire in November 2007. We had chosen 3500 students from the city of Wuhan in China randomly according to the stratified cluster sampling technique. RESULTS: There were 3248 questionnaires answered, and 2763 questionnaires were considered valid. Few respondents reported that they had heard (28%) and studied (27%) of CPR, and only 3% of the respondents had attended a CPR course. The two major sources of information about CPR for Chinese students were television and books. Most respondents expressed a desire to learn CPR (77%), and were willing to disseminate CPR (73%). CONCLUSION: Dissemination of CPR among Chinese students has not been executed satisfactorily. The finding highlights the importance of CPR dissemination and efforts should be made to provide more convenient, effective and attractive ways for the Chinese public, especially students, to learn CPR.