BACKGROUND: Healthcare professionals are expected to have knowledge of current basic and advanced cardiac life support (BLS/ACLS) guidelines to revive unresponsive patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the current practices and knowledge of BLS/ACLS principles among healthcare professionals of North-Kerala using pretested self-administered structured questionnaire. Answers were validated in accordance with American Heart Association's BLS/ACLS teaching manual and the results were analysed. RESULTS: =0.003) had significantly higher scores. One hundred and sixty three (35.3%) healthcare professionals knew the correct airway opening manoeuvres like head tilt, chin lift and jaw thrust. Only 54 (11.7%) respondents were aware that atropine is not used in ACLS for cardiac arrest resuscitation and 79 (17.1%) correctly opted ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia as shockable rhythms. The majority of healthcare professionals (356, 77.2%) suggested that BLS/ACLS be included in academic curriculum. CONCLUSION: Inadequate knowledge of BLS/ACLS principles amongst healthcare professionals, especially physicians, illuminate lacunae in existing training systems and merit urgent redressal.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Nambiar et al. (2016) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: