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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijaa.2349.8471.51118.17

Abstract

  Context: Cardiac arrest whether in the hospital or outside hospital is considered as a major medical emergency and it should be treated immediately.The survival and outcome of a cardiac arrest depends on the early initiation of BLS. The nurses are expected to update their knowledge as per BLS­AHA guidelines to ensure timely recognition of cardiac arrest and to initiate the chain of survival as early as possible. Aims: To evaluate the knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation among nurses before and after the formal certified CPR training program in a tertiary care hospital. Material and Methods: It is a cross sectional descriptive study and it was conducted by the department of Anaesthesiology by involving the Nurses at Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Institute of Medical sciences and Research from February to March 2018.Totally 186 nurses were consented from various workplace and different educational status for this study. A validated and pre­tested questionnaires which contains 20 questions which evaluated the knowledge, attitude and practices towards the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was distributed to the nurses for pretest and posttest after training. The correct answer score assigned was 1 and wrong answer score was 0 thus making the total score as 20. Results: Among the total 186 nurses 98.92% (n=184) were females and 1.08% (n=2) were ales. Majority were between the age group of 26 to 30 years and their working experience ranging from 2 to 10 years. Many of the participants 45.7% (n=85) had no formal training in CPR and (n=101) 54.3% had undergone CPR training during their study period. 118 (63.44%) nurses had studied B.Sc nursing and 68 (36.56%) were Diploma in nursing. Among them 113 (60.75%)were working in medical and surgical ward, 22 (11.83%) in casualty, 30 (16.13%) in ICU, 21 (11.29%) in OT. The mean±SD of the overall total knowledge score was 42.37±4.8 and 67.1±3.37 in pre and post test respectively there was significant improvement and association between the total scores in pretest and post test (P<0.05) and also there was a strong association between the workplace and the total scores (p<0.0001). Conclusion: In conclusion the Knowledge practices and attitude of the participants regarding CPR were low before training and found adequate after training. Thus, more educational interventions and training programs should be provided periodically among the nurses. 

Keywords : Basic Life Support (BLS); Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation(CPR); Training; Knowledge; Nurses.

Corresponding Author : Anbu Muruga Raj Annamalai, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, MelmaruvathurAdhiparasakthi Institute of Medical sciences and Research, Melmaruvathur, Kancheepuram District, Tamilnadu 603319, India.