Impact of basic life-support training on the attitudes of health-care workers toward cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) increases the probability of survival of a person with cardiac arrest. Repeating training helps staff retain knowledge in CPR and in use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Retention of knowledge and skills during and after training in CPR is difficult and requires systematic training with appropriate methodology. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of basic life-support (BLS) training on the attitudes of health-care providers toward initiating CPR and on use of AEDs, and to investigate the factors that influence these attitudes. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted in two groups: health-care providers who had just attended a BLS-AED course (post-BLS group, n = 321), and those who had not (pre-BLS group, n = 421). All participants had previously received BLS training. Both groups were given a validated questionnaire to evaluate the status of life-support education and certification, attitudes toward use of CPR and AED and concerns regarding use of CPR and AED. Multiple linear regression analyses were applied to identify significant predictors of the attitude and concern scores. RESULTS: Overall positive attitudes were seen in 53.4% of pre-BLS respondents and 64.8% of post-BLS respondents (χ2 = 9.66, p = 0.002). Positive attitude was significantly predicted by the recent completion of BLS training (ß = 5.15, p < 0.001), the number of previous BLS training courses (ß = 2.10, p = 0.008) and previous exposure to cardiac-arrest cases (ß = 3.44, p = 0.018), as well as by low concern scores, (ß = -0.09, p < 0.001). Physicians had significantly lower concern scores than nurses (ß = -10.45, p = 0.001). Concern scores decreased as the duration of work experience increased (t = 2.19, p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: Repeated educational programs can improve attitudes toward CPR performance and the use of AEDs. Training that addressed the concerns of health-care workers could further improve these attitudes.

Hearing impairments among Saudi preschool children.

BACKGROUND: Hearing loss among school-entrant children in the developing world has been widely reported as a significant health problem. Failure to detect hearing loss, either congenital or acquired, in children may result in lifelong deficits in speech and language acquisition. The aims of this study were: (1) to estimate the prevalence of hearing loss and (2) to identify its different types. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that included all children (n=2574) aged 4-8 years who attended the obligatory health examination for kindergarten (=370) and primary school (n=2204) entry at the school health center of King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from March 2009 to December 2010. Pure-tone air conduction audiometry was conducted for each child in a sound-treated room followed by a diagnostic test. Tympanometry was performed as a complement to the overall objectives of a hearing screening program. RESULTS: A total of 45 children were diagnosed with hearing impairment (84.4% conductive and 15.6% sensori-neural), with an overall prevalence of 1.75% (95% C.I.: 1.25, 2.25). The majority of cases were females (71.1%), of school age (80.0%), with conductive deafness (84.4%). More than one-half of cases had bilateral deafness (55.6%) of mild degree (57.8%). As for conductive deafness, otitis media with effusion ranked first as a cause of deafness (34.9%), followed by wax and chronic otitis media (23.3% each), while traumatic perforated drum came last (2.3%). Sensorineural deafness constituted 16.2% of all cases. CONCLUSION: Conductive hearing loss is the primary type of hearing loss among children and is easy to correct. The urgent development of audiological services in other school health centers in the country, particularly those with good referral systems to Ministry of Health hospitals, is needed. Evidence-based guidelines to identify, monitor, and manage otitis media with effusion (OME) in children in the primary healthcare setting and a strategy to prevent hearing loss are recommended.

The prevalence and characteristics of water-pipe smoking among high school students in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence and predictors of the water-pipe (WP) smoking epidemic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS: A cross-sectional study conducted with 16-18 year-old high school students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: Of the 1272 participants, 414 (33.0%) reported having tried WP smoking. Of this group, 141 (34.1%) were female and 273 (65.9%) were male. Further, 129 (10.2%) students were current WP smokers who had used at least one rock in the past month; 20 were female (1.6%) and 120 were male (8.6%). Regarding age, 276 (68.1%) students who tried WP smoking at least once began when they were over 11 years of age, whereas 129 (31.9%) began WP smoking at or before 11 years of age. Adjusted odds ratios showed that trying WP smoking at least once was associated with smoking after the age of 11 (p=0.021, OR 7.7; CI: 1.4-43.6) and accepting water-pipes from a friend (p=0.024, OR 10.6; CI: 1.4-83.4). CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of WP smoking exists among male and female high schools students in Riyadh, KSA. WP smoking was reported to begin in early adulthood.