Abstract

Background: Basic life support (BLS) is all about the prompt recognition of a victim of cardiac arrest or any foreign body obstruction and managing it with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation. Objectives: To estimate the extent of awareness about BLS among the undergraduate interns of medical, dental, and physiotherapy College of Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala.
Materials and Methods: The current study cross-sectional analytical study included the medical interns (MIs), dental interns (DIs), and physiotherapy interns (PIs) of Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala. The assessment was done on the basis of a questionnaire containing 20 basic multiple choice questions related to BLS. The students were given 1 h time to attempt the questions and then the assessment was done. The students were graded on the performance based on scores (in percentage) classified as: 90-100 outstanding, 80-89 excellent, 70-79 as very good, 60-69 as good, 50-59 as satisfactory, and <50 as poor.
Results: Out of the total 234 interns participated in the study 108 were MIs, 72 were DIs, and 54 were PIs. The mean score of MIs was 48.92% ± 4.11%, the mean score of DIs was 40.67 ± 3.67%, and mean score of PIs was 32.45% ± 3.09% (P < 0.05). Conclusion: We concluded that there is poor knowledge and awareness about BLS and cardiopulmonary resuscitation among the interns and hence shows the need for compulsory training in this field.