Knowledge of basic life support: a pilot study of the Turkish population by Baskent University in Ankara

A total of 494 participants who were scheduled to take Baskent University's basic life support (BLS) training programme in 2001-02 were asked to complete a 25-item questionnaire prior to the course. The questionnaire investigated the demographic characteristics of the subjects, their knowledge of the theoretical and practical aspects of BLS, and personal experience and attitudes related to BLS. The 'non-medical group' included 179 laypersons, and the 'medical group' was composed of medical students (n=220), residents (n=69) and clinical nurses (n=26). One-hundred and twenty-six (25.5%) of the participants had an encounter with some form of medical emergency event in their past and 207 (41.9%) had taken a BLS course previously. The most commonly cited anxiety about performing BLS was the fear of further harming the victim (56.9%). Nine of the participants said they would not perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation (1.8%). Compared to the other participants, individuals with previous emergency experience, and those who had previous BLS training answered significantly more of the theoretical questions correctly. However, neither of these groups performed significantly better than the other participants in the practical questions (P>0.05 for both comparisons). Based on our findings, we recommend that BLS training for medical undergraduates, other medical personnel and laypersons be improved and standardized throughout Turkey.