Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic challenged healthcare systems worldwide. Owing to the transmission with aerosol-generating procedures, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practices were changed. Little is known about the adherence and/or uptake of these guidelines by hea...

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Main Authors: Almien Smit, Andreas Engelbrecht, Suma Rajan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa
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Online Access:https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/130
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author Almien Smit
Andreas Engelbrecht
Suma Rajan
author_facet Almien Smit
Andreas Engelbrecht
Suma Rajan
author_sort Almien Smit
collection DOAJ
description Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic challenged healthcare systems worldwide. Owing to the transmission with aerosol-generating procedures, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practices were changed. Little is known about the adherence and/or uptake of these guidelines by healthcare workers (HCWs) in lower-middle income countries. This study seeks to describe the CPR practices among HCWs in South Africa. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study used purposeful and snowball sampling to recruit 131 participants. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 131 responses were received. Of the respondents, 72.9% reported performing CPR on COVID-19-positive patients. Frequent breaches in personal protective equipment (PPE) (p  0.001) and reuse of PPE (p  0.001) were reported. Most respondents reported being aware of specific guidelines for CPR in COVID-19. Among the 53.4% of respondents who had tested positive for COVID-19, 79.7% reported occupational exposure. Of these respondents, 47.3% reported symptom onset within 5 days of performing CPR on a COVID-19-positive patient. Conclusion: HCWs often put the needs of patients above their own. The study found that despite respondents being aware of guidelines for CPR in COVID-19, compliance with guidelines was reported to be poor. Of particular concern is that a high number of respondents who tested positive for COVID-19 reported symptom onset within 5 days of performing CPR on COVID-19-positive patients. Contribution: This research will assist in the training of HCWs on appropriate CPR practices to prevent transmission of respiratory infections transmitted via droplet and airborne routes.
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spelling doaj-art-0091b8345c424cb5a33ade8f069b3f942025-02-11T13:24:18ZengAOSISJournal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa2960-110X2025-01-0131e1e910.4102/jcmsa.v3i1.13046Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitalsAlmien Smit0Andreas Engelbrecht1Suma Rajan2Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, EkurhuleniDepartment of Family Medicine, Faculty of Emergency Medicine, University of Pretoria, PretoriaDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Letterkenny University Hospital, GalwayBackground: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic challenged healthcare systems worldwide. Owing to the transmission with aerosol-generating procedures, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practices were changed. Little is known about the adherence and/or uptake of these guidelines by healthcare workers (HCWs) in lower-middle income countries. This study seeks to describe the CPR practices among HCWs in South Africa. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study used purposeful and snowball sampling to recruit 131 participants. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 131 responses were received. Of the respondents, 72.9% reported performing CPR on COVID-19-positive patients. Frequent breaches in personal protective equipment (PPE) (p  0.001) and reuse of PPE (p  0.001) were reported. Most respondents reported being aware of specific guidelines for CPR in COVID-19. Among the 53.4% of respondents who had tested positive for COVID-19, 79.7% reported occupational exposure. Of these respondents, 47.3% reported symptom onset within 5 days of performing CPR on a COVID-19-positive patient. Conclusion: HCWs often put the needs of patients above their own. The study found that despite respondents being aware of guidelines for CPR in COVID-19, compliance with guidelines was reported to be poor. Of particular concern is that a high number of respondents who tested positive for COVID-19 reported symptom onset within 5 days of performing CPR on COVID-19-positive patients. Contribution: This research will assist in the training of HCWs on appropriate CPR practices to prevent transmission of respiratory infections transmitted via droplet and airborne routes.https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/130cpr practicescovid-19aerosolizing proceduresresuscitation, lower-middle-income countries, personal protective equipment.
spellingShingle Almien Smit
Andreas Engelbrecht
Suma Rajan
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa
cpr practices
covid-19
aerosolizing procedures
resuscitation, lower-middle-income countries, personal protective equipment.
title Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
title_full Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
title_fullStr Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
title_full_unstemmed Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
title_short Cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid COVID-19 in four Gauteng public hospitals
title_sort cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices amid covid 19 in four gauteng public hospitals
topic cpr practices
covid-19
aerosolizing procedures
resuscitation, lower-middle-income countries, personal protective equipment.
url https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/130
work_keys_str_mv AT almiensmit cardiopulmonaryresuscitationpracticesamidcovid19infourgautengpublichospitals
AT andreasengelbrecht cardiopulmonaryresuscitationpracticesamidcovid19infourgautengpublichospitals
AT sumarajan cardiopulmonaryresuscitationpracticesamidcovid19infourgautengpublichospitals