A Pre-experimental Research to Investigate the Retention of Basic and Advanced Life Support Measures Knowledge   and Skills by Nurses Following a Course in Professional Development in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital

 

Lack of resuscitation skills of nurses in basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) has been identified as a contributing factor to poor outcomes of cardiac arrest victims. The hypothesis was that nurses’ knowledge on BLS and ALS would be related to their professional background as well as their resuscitation training. 

 

Pre-experimental research design was used to conduct the study among the nurses working in medical units of B.P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, where CPR is very commonly performed. Using convenient sampling technique total of 20 nurses agreed to participate and give consent were included in the study. The theoretical, demonstration and re-demonstration were arranged involving the trained doctors and nurses during the three hours educational session. Post-test was carried out after two week of education intervention programme. The 2010 BLS and ALS guidelines were used as guide for the study contents. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS-15 software. 

 

It was found that there is significant increase in knowledge after education intervention in the components of life support measures (BLS/ALS) i.e. ratio of chest compression to ventilation in BLS (P=0.001), correct sequence of CPR (p <0.001), rate of chest compression in ALS (P=0.001), the depth of chest compression in adult CPR (p<0.001), and position of chest compression in CPR (P=0.016). Nurses were well appreciated the programme and request to continue in future for all the nurses. 

 

At recent BLS/ALS courses, a significant number of nurses remain without any such training. Action is needed to ensure all nurses receive BLS training and practice this skill regularly in order to retain their knowledge.