TY - JOUR
T1 - Current state of knowledge of basic life support in health professionals of the largest city in Pakistan
T2 - A cross-sectional study
AU - Irfan, Babar
AU - Zahid, Ibrahim
AU - Khan, Muhammad Sharjeel
AU - Khan, Omar Abdul Aziz
AU - Zaidi, Shayan
AU - Awan, Safia
AU - Bilal, Sobia
AU - Irfan, Omar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/11/21
Y1 - 2019/11/21
N2 - Background: Basic Life Support (BLS) is the recognition of sudden cardiac arrest and activation of the emergency response system, followed by resuscitation, and rapid defibrillation. According to WHO, Pakistan has one of the highest mortality rates from accidental deaths therefore assessment and comparison of BLS knowledge in health professionals is crucial. We thereby aim to assess and compare the knowledge of BLS in doctors, dentists and nurses. Methods: A multi-centric cross-sectional survey was conducted in Karachi at different institutions belonging to the private as well as government sector from January to March 2018. We used a structured questionnaire which was adapted from pretested questionnaires that have been used previously in similar studies. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS v22.0, where adequate knowledge was taken as a score of at least 50%. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. Logistic regression was used to identify the factors affecting the knowledge regarding BLS in health care professionals. Results: The responders consisted of 140 doctors, nurses and dentists each. Only one individual (dentist) received a full score of 100%. In total, 58.3% of the population had inadequate knowledge. Average scores of doctors, dentists and nurses were 53.5, 43.3 and 38.4% respectively. Doctors, participants with prior training in BLS and those with 6 to 10 years after graduation were found to be a significant predictor of adequate knowledge, on multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Even though knowledge of BLS in doctors is better than that of dentists and nurses, overall knowledge of health care professionals is extremely poor. Present study highlights the need for a structured training of BLS for health care workers.
AB - Background: Basic Life Support (BLS) is the recognition of sudden cardiac arrest and activation of the emergency response system, followed by resuscitation, and rapid defibrillation. According to WHO, Pakistan has one of the highest mortality rates from accidental deaths therefore assessment and comparison of BLS knowledge in health professionals is crucial. We thereby aim to assess and compare the knowledge of BLS in doctors, dentists and nurses. Methods: A multi-centric cross-sectional survey was conducted in Karachi at different institutions belonging to the private as well as government sector from January to March 2018. We used a structured questionnaire which was adapted from pretested questionnaires that have been used previously in similar studies. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS v22.0, where adequate knowledge was taken as a score of at least 50%. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. Logistic regression was used to identify the factors affecting the knowledge regarding BLS in health care professionals. Results: The responders consisted of 140 doctors, nurses and dentists each. Only one individual (dentist) received a full score of 100%. In total, 58.3% of the population had inadequate knowledge. Average scores of doctors, dentists and nurses were 53.5, 43.3 and 38.4% respectively. Doctors, participants with prior training in BLS and those with 6 to 10 years after graduation were found to be a significant predictor of adequate knowledge, on multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Even though knowledge of BLS in doctors is better than that of dentists and nurses, overall knowledge of health care professionals is extremely poor. Present study highlights the need for a structured training of BLS for health care workers.
KW - ACLS
KW - BLS knowledge
KW - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
KW - Dentists
KW - Doctors
KW - Education
KW - Nurses
KW - Training
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075509696&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12913-019-4676-y
DO - 10.1186/s12913-019-4676-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 31752855
AN - SCOPUS:85075509696
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 19
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
IS - 1
M1 - 865
ER -