Abstract

Introduction: Cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of mortality, and incidence of cardiac arrest as well as need to CPR in dentistry offices is not uncommon. Thus, dentists should be fully familiar with the manner of CPR. This study aimed to examine the awareness of dentistry students at Islamic Azad University and Medical Sciences University in Tabriz city about the manner of management of cardiopulmonary emergencies. In this cross-sectional study, 110 last year dentistry students at dentistry faculties of Tabriz city (governmental and private) were classified randomly. The level of awareness of the students was evaluated using a researcher-made questionnaire whose reliability and validity were examined and confirmed. The questionnaire in addition to demographic information contained 16 items on awareness measurement. The answers were multiple choice, and one score was assigned to each correct response. Ultimately, the awareness score was calculated as sum of scores of correct responses. Data analysis was done using SPSS 21, and t-test. the awareness score was significantly higher at governmental university (8.03±2.18) than at Azad university (7.07±2.0). Also, 36.4% of the students had poor awareness, 60.6% had average awareness, and 2.7% good awareness about management of cardiopulmonary emergencies. The students’ level of awareness about management of cardiopulmonary emergencies did not have a significant difference based on gender or academic semester. The present study results indicated poor awareness and knowledge of dentistry students in Tabriz city (governmental and Azad) with regards to CPR.