Targeting students of nonhealth academic fields for basic life support: they need to know why, what and how to do CPR

Education in basic life support is widely proposed to increase survival and quality of life in out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. We aimed to assess knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding acute myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac arrest among university students of all fields of knowledge. Methods: The local Ethical Research Committee approved this cross-sectional study. An electronic survey "KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL" was sent to 58,862 students of 82 disciplines in three universities, aged ≥ 18 years. The survey covered three categories: knowledge, skills, and attitude. Each category was graded between 0 and 10 points (the highest). Results: Among university students, 4,803 undergraduates (8.2 %) answered the survey and were divided into three groups of disciplines: medicine (219, ~21.7 years, 38% male), other-health-care (n=1,058; ~22.9 years; 36% male), and nonhealth-care (n=3,526; ~22.9 years; 35% male). All three groups showed significant differences between them (p<0.001). The nonhealth-care compared with medicine and the other-health-care group showed, respectively, the lowest (p<0.001) median scores (25-75%) in knowledge [4.0 (0.0-9.3), 4.0 (4.0-8.0), and 4.0 (4.0-4.7)], skills [2.4 (1.2-3.3), 6.4 (4.0-8.3), 4.0 (2.4-6.2], and attitude [5.9 (5.9-6.8), 7.3 (5.9-7.3), and 7.3 (5.9-7.3)]. Conclusion: University students have the willingness to help victims suffering from acute myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac arrest. However, nonhealth-care students markedly lack the knowledge and skills to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillation. Our findings reveal a stark difference in basic life support competencies between students in health-care-related fields and those in nonhealthy-care fields, emphasizing the need for universal basic life support training. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Clinical Trial NA ### Funding Statement We also would like to thank the São Paulo University Rectory of Graduation (processes n. 20.1.10453.1.8 and 20.1.3952.1.2) for providing scholarships to undergraduates and the São Paulo State Research Foundation (FAPESP 2019/27652-4 and FAPESP 2023/12891-9) for providing research funding. The funding sources did not have any involvement in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the article for publication. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: This is a cross-sectional observational study of the KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL project with approval of the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, São Paulo University, Brazil (CAAE: 25218819.0.0000.0065). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data will be available after 6 to 12 months of the publication with direct request to the authors.