The impact of basic life support training among KIBOGORA district hospital staff: A pilot study

Background: The purpose of BLS is to maintain adequate ventilation and circulation until a means can be used to reverse the underlying cause of cardiac arrest.Worse outcomes are obtained when BLS is being done by non-trained persons.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge of BLS among KIBOGORA district hospital staff and the impact of BLS training on retaining BLS skills among clinical and non-clinical KIBOGORA hospital staff.
Materials and Methods: This pilot study was conducted in KIBOGORA hospital. A pre training test was given to every participant and after the training, a posttest was given to all participants. Before completing the pretest questionnaire, each participant had to choose a code made of at least 2 characters and the same code had to appear on the posttest questionnaire of the same participant. A grading system was used to categorize the level of participants’ knowledge on BLS skills.
Results: Among 196 trained staff, 40 completed the pre training questionnaire .82.50 % of the subjects that completed the pre training questionnaire were clinical staff whereas 17.50% were non clinical staff. 54.55% and 33.33% of the clinical staff had respectively poor and fair knowledge on Basic Life Support (BLS) and only 6.06% were good at BLS however none of clinical staff was very good or excellent on BLS. All of the non-clinical staff that participated in the study had either a poor or fair knowledge on BLS.
After the training, both clinical and non-clinical staff that completed the pre-training questionnaire, completed the post training questionnaire.30.30% of clinical staff that completed the questionnaire were good on BLS.The number of participants with an average or fair knowledge on BLSwere 27.27% in each category. 6.06% and 3.03% were excellent or very good on Basic Life Support. On the other hand, 42.86% and 28.57% of non-clinical staff had respectively poor and fair knowledge on BLS.
Conclusion: After the training, knowledge on BLS improved both for clinical and non-clinical staff however more refresher courses are needed to reduce the gap seen in theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills.