Attitudes and Practices of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Team Members about Teamwork; a Cross-Sectional Study

One of the competencies required by nurses and physicians to provide effective care in urgent situations is teamwork skills. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes and performance of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation team members of emergency departments in relation to teamwork during resuscitation.

 This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted from October to February 2016 in 7 teaching hospitals in Tabriz, Iran. A total of 147 nurses and 126 physicians from emergency departments were randomly recruited in this study. Research tool consisted of 3 parts including, questionnaires in demographics, Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire and performance team work scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software.

 The mean age of nurses was 31.25 ± 5.19 and physicians was 36.17 ± 5.68. The majority of nurses (41.5%) and physicians (32.5%) had participated in CPR more than 20 times. The mean score of attitudes of nurses was 120.98 ± 9.23 and physicians was 119.95 ± 9.29 and their overall attitudes towards teamwork was optimal (P = 0.001). The mean performance score of nurses was 46.14 ± 2.49 and that of physicians was 46.48 ± 2.14 at the desired level (P = 0.001).

 In urgent situations such as CPR, communication and coordination of resuscitation team members play an important role in the outcome of operation. Promoting and encouraging a positive attitude and performance towards teamwork, team training and mental preparation for work can be a valuable and low-cost solution to increase resuscitation team members’ work efficiency and ultimately improve the quality of patient care.