Introduction: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is considered a core emergency skill in which all health care professionals must be proficient. CPR remains a new procedure in developing compared to develop countries. The objective of this study was to assess Nurses Knowledge and Skills following Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
Methods: A prospective pre/post intervention design was adopted. CPR knowledge and skills of 32 nurses from MRRH were assed using two tools. Tool I consisted of 17 item of multiple choice questions that assessed CPR knowledge. Tool II involved an observation checklist of 15-point skills questions. A penalty score of 5 or 10 or 20 was set for each question, based on the guideline.
Results: The average score prior to instruction was 53.8 for knowledge and posttest 82.5, and for skills was 46 pre-instruction and 81.5 post instruction. There was a statistically significant (p < 0.001) improvement in the CPR knowledge and (p = 0.02) for CPR skills. The percentage change in respondent's knowledge and skills ranged from 16.8% to137.2% with a mean of 59.9% for knowledge and from 19.18% to 2115.6% with a mean of 159.8% for the skills assessment.
Conclusion: Respondents had inadequate CPR knowledge and skills at pretest. The study revealed statistically significant improvement in both knowledge and skills of CPR for all nurses post training. There was a significant change in nurses' skills than in knowledge post training.
Keywords: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Uganda; knowledge; manikin; nurse; training.