Basic life support training for patients and their family members at cardiac rehabilitation: a feasibility study.

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A cardiac arrest is a life threatening condition that occurs when a victims’ heart stops suddenly and breathing becomes abnormal. To prevent death, someone nearby must start basic life support (BLS) measures. This includes; 1) recognising the person is in cardiac arrest, 2) calling for help and 3) commencing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CPR involves compressing the chest, and if able and willing, providing mouth to mouth breaths. Up to 75% of cardiac arrests will happen in the home environment and nearly half of these will be witnessed by someone at home. This person is usually the spouse or a family member of the victim. Therefore it is important that family members of people who are more at risk of having a cardiac arrest are trained in BLS skills. People who have had a prior heart attack, or other heart conditions are at higher risk of repeat events, including the risk of having a cardiac arrest. Therefore the relatives of these people should be targeted for BLS training. Approximately four to six weeks after hospitalisation for a heart attack or cardiac event, most patients attend cardiac rehabilitation. Cardiac rehabilitation is a six to eight week outpatient program, usually run at a hospital by trained cardiac rehabilitation nurses and other health staff. These programs include both exercise and education sessions. Family members are encouraged to attend the education sessions along with the patients. Cardiac rehabilitation programs may provide the ideal catchment and environment to provide BLS training to both cardiac patients and their family members. In recent years, the way we teach and perform BLS has changed significantly. BLS training can now be undertaken in 30 minutes and without a formal instructor. This training can be done via a self-training kit that includes a training video and a reusable, inflatable manikin to practice CPR skills. The most important part of CPR is the chest compressions, with the mouth to mouth being optional. Therefore learning and performing BLS is much easier than it used to be. In this study we will train patients and family members attending the Cabrini cardiac rehabilitation program using self-instructional BLS video training kits. The primary aim of this research is to assess whether it is feasible to conduct BLS training to patients and their family members at a cardiac rehabilitation program. Our secondary objectives are: 1) to assess whether this group can perform BLS adequately; 2) to assess willingness to utilise and maintain BLS skills; 3) to determine the level of secondary training (sharing of training kit) that is undertaken by participants; 4) to assess levels of anxiety and confidence pre and post training. In order to assess the feasibility of running the program at cardic rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation staff will complete a brief survey at the completion of the study.

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