Awareness of basic life support among medical, dental, nursing students and..

To study the awareness of Basic Life Support (BLS) among students, doctors and nurses of medical, dental, homeopathy and nursing colleges. A cross-sectional study was conducted by assessing responses to 20 selected basic questions regarding BLS among students, doctors and nurses of medical, dental, homeopathy and nursing colleges. After excluding the incomplete response forms the data was analysed on 1,054 responders. The results were analysed using an answer key prepared with the use of the Advanced Cardiac Life Support manual. Out of 1,054 responders 345 were medical students, 75 were medical interns, 19 were dental students, 59 were dental interns, 105 were homeopathy interns, 319 were nursing students, 72 were doctors, 29 were dentists, 25 were nursing faculty and six were homeopathy doctors. No one among them had complete knowledge of BLS. Only two out of 1054 (0.19%) had secured 80 - 89% marks, 10 out of 1054 (0.95%) had secured 70 - 79% marks, 40 of 1054 (4.08%) had secured 60 - 69% marks and 105 of 1054 (9.96%) had secured 50 - 59% marks. A majority of them, that is, 894 (84.82%) had secured less than 50% marks. Awareness of BLS among students, doctors and nurses of medical, dental, homeopathy and nursing colleges is very poor.

Indian J Anaesth. 2010 Mar;54(2):121-6. Chandrasekaran S, Kumar S, Bhat SA, Saravanakumar, Shabbir PM, Chandrasekaran V. Vinayaka Mission's Kirupananda Variyar Medical College, Salem, Tamilnadu, India.