Defibrillation beliefs of rural nurses : focus group discussions guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour

The endorsement of the chain of survival concept and early defibrillation has challenged health professionals to reconsider their beliefs about how they respond to in-hospital resuscitation. In the rural context, where 24 hour coverage is not available nurse-initiated defibrillation is expected. Despite literature and policy change in Australia to allow nurses to initiate defibrillation, there is no current research that uses a systemic theoretical approach to investigate the specific beliefs of nurses and their use of defibrillators. The purpose of this study was to elicit a beginning understanding of the defibrillation beliefs of rural nurses.