Knowledge, Attitude Towards Basic Life Support Among Undergraduate Dental Students

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Pragya S, Arthi Balasubramaniam

Abstract

Main purpose of basic life support is to maintain airways, support breathing and circulation without equipment. Emergencies can often happen in the dental chair. It is necessary that a dental practitioner should have adequate knowledge and practices towards basic life support. Thus this study aims to assess the level of awareness and attitude towards basic life support among dental undergraduates in Chennai.


 


Material and methods


This cross-sectional study was conducted among 102 dental undergraduate students of private dental institutions. A pre-validated questionnaire containing 12 question items pertaining to basic life support were mailed as google forms to dental students and were requested to fill the same. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.


 


Results


About 37.79% students have average knowledge, 31.6% have excellent knowledge, 13.86% have good knowledge and the remaining have poor knowledge regarding basic life support. About 49% of students have not done or seen basic life support before. About 20.79% students strongly agree to include basic life support in dental curriculum, 24.75% agree, 26.73% have responded neutral and remaining disagree to add BLS in dental curriculum. There was no significant difference in the knowledge, attitude and practice of BLS among male and female participants (p>0.05).


 


Conclusion


Undergraduate dental students have good knowledge on basic life support measures. However, their  attitude towards practicing basic life support during emergency should be inculcated during their course of study

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