Introduction: Surviving a cardiac arrest outside the hospital most commonly depends on early detection as well as effective and rapid action by eyewitnesses. According to data obtained from literature, eyewitnesses only rarely approach an injured person and provide first aid. In order to improve the outcome in a person suffering from a cardiac arrest, the time required for first aid teams to get to the injured person must first be shortened. Therefore, certified first aid responders have also started to participate in the emergency medical assistance system. Purpose: The aim of this paper is the present the importance of educating certified first responders on basic resuscitation procedures for children and adults using an automated external defibrillator and study the level of familiarity of firefighters and certified first responders in the Kamnik area with first aid. Methods: In the theoretical part of the paper, based on databases, we reviewed English and Slovenian literature published between 2012 and 2021 in order to substantiate the research problem. In the empirical part, we carried out a survey, asking questions about basic resuscitation procedures for adults and children using an automated external defibrillator. The surveying took place between 10 January, 2022, until 10 October, 2022, on the 1ka online portal. Results: The survey was entirely filled by 177 respondents. Among the participants were 78 (44.1%) firefighters having completed a course for a certified first responder and 99 (55.9%) firefighters not having completed this course. Their average age was 32 years. During an intervention, first aid was provided by 69 (39.2%) firefighters, of which 30 (43.5%) believe that they did a good job during the intervention and that they had sufficient knowledge to take appropriate measures. This is reflected in the percentage of correct responses. Discussion and conclusion: The familiarity of respondents on basic resuscitation procedures for children and adults as well as their familiarity with the use of an automated external defibrillator in the field vary greatly, but are still on a generally good level. The respondents had difficulties only when determining agonal breathing and what measures to take in the event of agonal breathing; the correct response was provided by all firefighters having completed a course for a certified first responder and only rarely by firefighters not having completed this course.
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