The effect of retraining of nurses on cardiopulmonary resuscitationsuccess rate and short-term and long-term survival in patients revived

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed in order to restore the functioning of two most important body organs; the heart and brain. The present study was performed to investigate the effect of retraining of nurses on CPR success rate and short-term and long-term CPR survival. The study population of the present quasi-experimental study consisted of all nurses of Taleghani Hospital affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, in 2011. The study subjects (n = 400) were selected using convenience and purposive sampling method. The patient survival rate during the first 24 hours (short-term survival) and discharge from the hospital (long-term survival) after CPR were reported. Then, the study subjects, in groups of 20, participated in CPR training courses. Short-term (24 hours) and long-term (discharge from hospital in good mental status) survival subsequent to CPR were reevaluated and compared with pre-training results. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20, and t-test and chi-square test. Retraining promoted CPR success rates. This increase in the short-term success rate was not significant, but the increase in long-term success rate was statistically significant (P = 0.007). Periodic retraining of nurses may improve CPR success rate particularly long-term survival or discharge from hospital. Therefore, further studies on long-term success of CPR considering confounding factors are recommended.