Basic Life Support Competency Among Medical Students in South-East, Nigeria
Okechukwu Chime Ogbodo*, Chibuzor Emmanuel Ngwu, Emmanuel Onuchi Nnadi, Onyedikachi Martins Nnaji and Sophia Ifunanya Nnaji
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Worldwide, lack of knowledge and skills of Basic Life contributes significantly to mortality from cardiac arrest, with approximately 90% of out-of-hospital cases resulting in death. Survival rates remain below 10% in many regions, largely due to delayed or absent basic life support provided.
Objective: To assess Knowledge, attitude, and practice of basic life support among medical students in Enugu State University of Technology, Enugu State, South-East Nigeria.
Methodology: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The analysis was conducted using generated tables, frequency and percentage calculations, and cross-tabulations. Summary statistics were used to represent quantitative data. Chi-square was used, at 95% confidence interval, and P-value was set at 0.05.
Results: 42% of respondents had good knowledge of BLS, and 58% had poor knowledge, while 77.6% demonstrated a positive attitude. However, practice was very poor, as only 7.6% had good practice.
Conclusion and Recommendations: The respondents had positive attitude, poor knowledge, and very poor practice of Basic life support. BLS training should be made compulsory in the medical curriculum, with regular refresher courses, and simulation-based practices.
