Effectiveness of American Heart Association-Certified Basic Life Support Provider Course on Knowledge and Skill Set...

Experts predict India to become the heart capital of the world by 2020; the number of patients with heart disease is likely to increase from an estimated 2.7 crore (2000) to 6.15 crore by 2015. Thus the need for competent nurses to manage cardiac arrest patients is ever increasing. In this study on 20 qualified nurses, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) cognitive knowl- edge score questionnaire was administered and Observational checklist for CPR skill set were completed as'the respondents attempted CPR on Resusci Anne skill meter Manikin under pretest. In post-test 1, American Heart Association (AHA)-certified Basic Life Support (BLS) train- ing was imparted to the respondents. CPR cognitive knowledge score questionnaire was administered and Observational checklist for CPR skillset were completed. In post-test 2, after 6 months of AHA-Certified BLS training, CPR Cognitive knowledge score questionnaire and Observational checklist for CPR skill set were completed in their respective area of work. The results showed significant improvement in Knowledge and Skill set of nurses. As for correlation and association between effectiveness of training and selected demographic variables, analytical observation, significant difference was noticed in gender and qualification of respondents. The progress or deterioration of knowledge and skill set were not interdependent.