Cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for UK undergraduate dental students.

Abstract

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a vital skill which must be mastered by all health care professionals. The General Dental Council recommends that it is taught to all UK dental undergraduates. This study was done to elicit how many schools teach aspects of Basic and Advanced Life Support to their students, how often and whether they assess their students. All UK schools teach Basic Life Support (BLS) at least once, but a lower proportion assess their students formally and only three schools teach BLS in each year of the course. Only 64% (9/14) of respondents thought their students received enough training to be able to cope with the initial stages of an emergency on their own. Thus, although the level of BLS training is probably acceptable at present, further improvement of CPR training in UK Dental Schools is advisable.