An evaluation of knowledge and skill on cricoid pressure among emergency personnel

BACKGROUND: Cricoid pressure (CP) is a step during rapid sequence induction. Previous studies showed a poor clinical application of CP despite a reasonable theoretical knowledge of CP. This study aims to evaluate the proficiency and knowledge retention on CP among the emergency staff in the Emergency Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is questionnaire-based observational comparative study. Once the questionnaire is filled, the application of CP is tested on an airway model and competency level is documented. An education hand out is passed to all participants after the procedure. The improvement and knowledge retention were assess after 2 month.

RESULTS: A total of 81 completed surveys were returned comprises of of 34 medical officers, 23 staff nurses and 24 assistant medical officers. 75.3% subjects have work experience more than a year but only 59.3% of them were trained in CP application. A total of 69.1% participants passed the pre educational handout test and 100% passed the post educational handout test. However, for pre educational handout phase, 81.5% participants passed the theory part while only 42% passed the practical component. In post educational handout phase, the number of respondents who passed both components was 97.5% and 63% respectively. There are positive correlation between designation and working experience with overall passes in this study.

CONCLUSIONS: The theoretical knowledge of CP is satisfactory but clinical application is poor especially in the pre educational handout phase. The educational handout is proved to improve the knowledge transfer and retention with regards to CP.