The Knowledge of Nurses, Staffed in a Training Hospital, About Basic and Advanced Life Support

Abstract

Study Objective: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the main mortality cause of adult population that occurs immediately and unexpectedly. Cardiac arrests cannot be eliminated and all patients cannot be saved, but the aim should be to prevent and decrease the mortality rates by applying the chain of life and basic life support. We aimed to evaluate and compare adult/pediatric basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) knowledge of nurses staffed in training hospitals in Turkey with their colleagues around the world.
Methods: Adult/pediatric BLS and ALS knowledge of 54 nurses staffed in a training hospital was evaluated by a survey (pre-test) consists of 21 questions followed by a 6-hour training and a post-test.
Results: Mean age of nurses included in the study was 24,51±5.47 (%95 CI 22.43-26.59) and 30 (51.7%) of them were working in a surgery department. BLS course was taken by 79.3%(n=46) before they graduated from school and 62.1%attended the training in the last one-year. Nurses who should have experienced BLS/ALS to a patient were only 10.3% (n=6). Pre-test mean correct answer was 7.72±2.10 (%95 CI 6.92-8.52) and post- test was 14.34±1.54 (%95 CI 13.76-14.93); accuracies were 36,7%and 68,3%respectively (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant pre-test accuracy rates between nurse groups who practiced resuscitation, felt competent to apply BLS/ALS, attended any BLS/ALS training, staffed whether in surgery or medical department.
Conclusion: Theoretical and practical BLS/ALS training of nurses staffed in training hospitals should be repeated at least in every 6-month in order to keep their knowledge and skills updated, to apply resuscitation and assist physician courageously.