[Knowledge and willingness to perform basic life support by local police officers].

BACKGROUND: To determine the knowledge and willingness of local police officers (PO) to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as well as to explore the association between CPR training and these variables.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study with a sample of 390 PO from Asturias (Spain). An anonymous questionnaire was used to measure nine basic aspects of CPR from the European Resuscitation Council and four indicators of attitude towards performing CPR in a real context. Information on CPR training and its periodicity was also collected, as well as basic socio-demographic and occupational variables.

RESULTS: Lack of CPR training was seen in 19.7% of PO, and 36.4% had received such training more than two years ago. Almost one out of four PO had performed at least one CPR in a real situation (24.1%), of which 9.6% had not been trained. The least remembered aspects of CPR were depth (11%) and frequency of chest compressions (24.4%). Only 49.7% of the agents felt sufficiently prepared to perform a CPR. Knowledge and disposition were significantly associated with having received training with a periodicity of less than two years.

CONCLUSIONS: Given that PO are frequently first responders in situations of out-of-hospital cardiorespiratory arrest, specific training in CPR should be mandatory and periodic, with at least one course every two years. It would be interesting to determine which didactic instrumentation is most efficient for disseminating these training courses among police officers. Key words. Police. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; attitude. Emergencies.