Impact of compression only life (COLS) training to police personnel as first responder to cardiac arrest

Abstract

Bystander CPR is an essential part of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). The Indian Society of Anaesthesiology Gujarat State Branch (ISAGSB) had embraced initiatives to teach Compression Only Life Support (COLS) to police personnel as they are likely to arrive before the emergency medical services in case of OHCA, thus increasing the chances of survival of victims. We evaluated the impact of one such training to 300 police men at our institute.: Participants were given a questionnaire in the pre and post training period and the impact of our training was evaluated in terms of attitude and knowledge by comparing the pre and post training scores.In both attitude and knowledge sections, there was a significant improvement in scores (p < 0.001). Marked percentage rise was also seen in the knowledge section with regards to the technique of COLS (<20% pre training to >80% post training). We conclude that raising awareness towards COLS and imparting proper training to first responders like police personnel can significantly improve the chances of survival.