Reluctance of Internists and Medical Nurses to Perform Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation

doi:10.1001/archinte.1993.00410150041004

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Vol. 153 No. 15, 9 AUG 1993

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Reluctance of Internists and Medical Nurses to Perform Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation

Barry E. Brenner, MD, PhD; Jane Kauffman, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1993;153(15):1763-1769.

Abstract

Background
Physicians and nurses constitute a major part of citizen cardiopulmonaryresuscitation responders and serve as educators and resourcepersonnel concerning cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We decidedto determine if fear of infectious disease has dampened physicianand nurse response to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (MMR).

Methods
Four hundred thirty-three internists and one hundred fifty-twomedical nurses responded to presentations of mock cardiac arrestscenarios.

Results
Forty-five percent of the physicians and 80% of the nurses wouldrefuse to do MMR on a stranger. Between 18% and 25% of nursesand attending internists would not do MMR on a child. Beingborn in the United States or white racial background decreasedthe reluctance of the respondents to perform MMR. Only 15% ofthe respondents would do MMR on a stranger in a gay neighborhood.All respondents that would not do MMR stated that their reasoninvolved fear of contracting communicable diseases, especiallyacquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Conclusions
Internists and medical nurses are highly reluctant to performMMR. We recommend that the teaching of MMR should emphasizeperformance on children and family members where willingnessto perform MMR is high. We urge public education along withwidespread availability of effective barrier masks to resuscitateMMR itself.

(Arch Intern Med. 1993;153:1763-1769)

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, Calif (Dr Brenner), and Department of Medicine, Loma Linda (Calif) School of Medicine (Dr Kauffman).

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