ORIGINAL ARTICLES High-Impact Medical Education in Basic Life Support: A Comparative Study of Doctors and Medical Students in a Tertiary Hospital

West Afr J Med . 2023 Jul 28;40(7):697-703.

Abstract

Abstract  in English, French

Introduction: Although very crucial in medicine, mastery of cardiopulmonary resuscitation remains poor in many low and-medium income countries (LMICs) due mainly to the lack of readily accessible training facilities and expertise.

Subjects and methods: The current study was aimed at evaluating the knowledge of Basic Life Support (BLS) among senior-level medical students and doctors in Nigeria, as well as to evaluate the value of a video teaching method in improving the knowledge base of BLS. It was a two-cohort prospective study carried out over a duration of one month. Each group of participants had an initial assessment of their knowledge of Basic Life Support using a questionnaire. Thereafter, the 45-minute CHEMPIONS-BLS video was projected. On completion of the video session, the same questionnaire was again administered to each group of participants. This was followed by a practical, hands-on workshop at the skills laboratory. Data was collected using the questionnaires and comparisons were made between the pre and post-test responses.

Results: Seventy-five medical students and 41 doctors were enrolled into this study. Overall, their knowledge of BLS and their exposure to previous BLS training were poor, but there was a significant improvement in the mean scores, and the overall performance after viewing the video just one time; t = 27.30, p = .000 and χ² = 116.01; p = .000 respectively.

Conclusion: This study reveals poor knowledge and exposure to basic life support training among both medical students and practicing doctors. It further reveals the value of a novel training method in improving BLS knowledge.

Keywords: Basic life support (BLS); Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) Nigeria.; Medical education; Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA); Post-COVID education.

A C Owobu ¹, F O Omosofe ², C I Owobu ³, T A Azeke ³, M A Oyewusi ¹, S O Ileli ¹, H E Ugbeni ¹