Knowledge, Attitude and Willingness toward Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) among Public AED Program Managers in Taiwan

Background: In Taiwan, certain public locations are required by law to install public automatic external defibrillators (AED) since 2013. Each public AED site should designate a manager to oversee AED registration/maintenance, education, and incident report. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and willingness of AED managers toward CPR+AED. Methods: This cross-sectional study is launched by emailing those AED managers who registered in the ""Taiwan Public AED Registry"" website with structured questionnaire. This instrument includes demographics; as well as knowledge, attitude and willingness toward CPR+AED practices and policies. Results: Overall 3810 managers were contacted and 1405 (37%) responded. A total of 83.4% participants completed manager course and 84.6% public places had site emergency plan. Knowledge on regulation and policy (92%) was higher than CPR+AED (83%). Willingness to perform CPR+AED (91.6%) was high, but to perform manager duty was less (68.7%). Fear of legal liability is the main reason for not willingness to perform CPR+AED or perform manager duty. The better knowledge on CPR+AED contributed to more positive attitude(β=0.55±0.12，p<0.001),thus enhanced higher willingness to perform CPR+AED(OR=1.35，95%CI=1.27~1.43，p<0.001). In working places with site emergency plan, the willing to perform manager duty is 2.19 times to those without it(95% CI=1.50~3.20，p<0.001). Conclusion: Site emergency plan for cardiac arrests is associated with better knowledge, attitude, and willingness among AED managers in Taiwan, who play pivotal roles in program success. More frequent and updated training, especially on CPR+AED as well as AED laws, could translate into better attitude and willingness.