Effectiveness of Basic Life Support Training on Level of Knowledge and Competency among Undergraduate Nursing Students

Abstract

A significant number of cardiac arrests can be anticipated and prevented through careful observation, prevention, and timely intervention for pre-arrest conditions. As the nursing profession is intrinsically linked to clinical judgment, it is crucial for nursing students to not only provide the required support to their patients during critical moments but also adopt an efficient and effective approach in their clinical practice. The acquisition of BLS training will facilitate the ability of undergraduate nursing students to promptly identify various life-threatening emergencies and initiate appropriate measures to save the victim's life. A pre-experimental pretest-posttest design was adopted for this study to evaluate the effectiveness of competency-based training on basic life support on undergraduate nursing students' knowledge and competency. The study population comprised 213 undergraduate nursing students from various colleges of nursing in Tamil Nadu. The research instruments used in this study encompassed a self-structured questionnaire to collect demographic data from undergraduate nursing students, a knowledge questionnaire, and an Adult one-rescuer competency checklist to evaluate their competency. The obtained mean difference knowledge score of 8.52 exhibited a statistically significant difference at a very high level, as indicated by a P 0.001. The assessment of competency among undergraduate nursing students on the BLS demonstrated that almost all the nursing students achieved a high level of competency (93.9%) in performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. A positive correlation was observed between knowledge and competency, with a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of 0.295. This correlation was determined to be statistically significant at P<0.001 level. The observed positive correlation suggested that there is a direct relationship between the increase in knowledge and the improvement in competency levels of students in basic life support. The results of this study concluded that the implementation of a competency-based training program in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation proved beneficial for undergraduate nursing students by enhancing their cognitive and psychomotor abilities.