Basic life support skills: assessment and education of spouse and first degree relatives of patients with coronary disease.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge of basic cardiac life support (BCLS) before and after the institution of training among first degree relatives and spouses of patients with coronary disease. STUDY DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, from April 2007 to May 2008. METHODOLOGY: A total of 300 relatives of patients with coronary heart disease undertook a one day CPR course. Questionnaire assessing knowledge of CPR was administered before and after the course. Patients were studied in groups of 10-20 at a time. Proportion of correct knowledge was compared using chi-square test with significance at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Mean age of participants was 31.08+10.53 years. Two hundred and twenty (73.34%) were males. On the average for all 31 questions, 37.09% of participants had correct responses before the training and 68.16% after the training of BCLS (p < 0.001). There was statistically significant improvement across all age groups, gender and educational levels (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: There was significant improvement in relatives' knowledge of BCLS after training. Different age groups, both genders and all educational groups showed equal learning abilities.