Translating knowledge to attitude: a survey on the perception of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation among dental students in Universiti Sains Malaysia and school teachers in Kota Bharu, Kelantan

This voluntary, anonymous questionnaire survey was performed to assess the willingness of Basic Life Support (BLS) participants to perform bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A total of 55 dental students and 73 school teachers were assessed on their willingness to perform bystander CPR after completion of their BLS training. In general, only 29.0% of the total 128 participants said that they would offer to perform CPR under any cardiac arrest condition and 69.0% said that they would just offer to call the ambulance but they would not offer to perform CPR. When analyzed separately, only 16.4% of school teachers said that they would perform CPR as compared to 45.5% of dental students (p < 0.001). Knowing how to perform CPR does not necessarily translate into willingness to perform CPR.