A study on the knowledge and attitudes on advanced life support among medical students and medical officers in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

BackgroundAdvanced life support (ALS) and cardio pulmonary resuscitation, provided at the right time is essential for improving mortality in medical emergencies. Accurate knowledge and skills on this regard, in all medical personals is an essential part of medical education and it should be up to date with varying protocols. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and attitudes among the undergraduate medical students and medical officers in the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya and provide suggestions to improve the training programme on ALS.MethodsA standardized self-administered questionnaire regarding knowledge and attitudes on ALS was filled by 4th and final year medical students, and medical officers, and the data was analyzed.ResultsThere were 411 eligible candidates and of them 130 (31.6 %) were 4th year medical students, 221 (53.8 %) were final year medical students and 60 (14.6 %) were medical officers. Of the medical officers, only 15.8 % indicated that the internship training was adequate to handle an emergency confidently. Approximately 45 % of the medical officers and 34.6 % of the final year medical students were confident of saving lives with their current ALS knowledge. However, only 22 % of 4th year medical students were confident in saving the life of a patient.ConclusionsOverall, just over 10 % of participants demonstrated inadequate ALS knowledge scores. A significantly higher proportion of final year medical students had good knowledge, compared to medical officers and 4th year students. Only one-third of participants were confident in saving a life with their current ALS knowledge. Nearly all participants thought that the ALS course should be reevaluated frequently.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation among junior doctors and medical students in Upper Egypt: cross-sectional study

“…In spite of this lack of knowledge and thus potential proficiency, attitudes towards CPR were generally positive. Similar knowledge deficiencies were reported among doctors and medical students in other LMICs, including South India [11], Sri Lanka [8], Jamaica [7], Nigeria [12], and Ethiopia [10].…”

“…Furthermore, the inclusion of CPR early in medical curricula is thought to increase medical students' awareness and appreciation of this vital skill [2]. Despite being wellestablished and one of the most effective resuscitative measures for patients in cardiac arrest, lack of knowledge, insufficient training, and inadequate practice of CPR have been documented among medical students and junior doctors in high-income as well as low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Assessment of Knowledge andSkills of CPRamong Internsof two Medical Colleges in North-East India

“…There was no difference between males and females regarding knowledge on CPR (table 3). Similar findings were seen in a study conducted by Ralapanawa DM et al 21 Another study done by Ravari H et al 22 among medical interns showed that males were more educated (p=0.041) than females. On the contrary, proper CPR information was higher among females(87%) than males (61%) in a study done among school students in Riyadh by Alanazi et al 23 .…”

Effectiveness of Cardiac Resuscitation Course for Final Year Medical Students during Anaesthesia Rotation

“…Our study revealed that there was a significant improvement in terms of knowledge after the course, which supports the need to continue in the present approach to delivery of the course. Reihani et al reported similar results when they trained using simulation based on education for advanced cardiac life support skills (11). However, the issue of decay of knowledge over time when there is no continuity in exposure needs to be addressed (12,22,23).…”

“…Studies show that there is a lack of knowledge among students regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques as recommended by international guidelines (4,10,11). It is imperative that universities take on the role of initiating change in the culture of safety and ingrain awareness that does not change when they join the workforce where the patient safety culture is still not optimal.…”