Knowledge and practices of basic life support amongst the ambulatory staff in Karachi

ABSTRACT

To assess the Knowledge and Practice of Basic Life Support in the ambulatory staff services in Karachi. Cross Sectional Study This study was conducted at Sindh Medical University [JSMU] from March 1st to October 30[th], 2011. Sample size of 283 was drawn using non- probability purposive sampling, ambulance staff members belonging to 10 ambulance services in the city, mainly Aman Foundation, Edhi, Chippa, Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation were interviewed through structured questionnaire. The data was collected and analyzed on SPSS version 17. Out of the 283 ambulatory staff members, 72.5% of the staff had no knowledge of Basic Life Support, 27.4% had knowledge. 14% answered correctly about the position in which a heart attack patient should be placed, 90% answered wrongly about patient whose clavicle had been fractured. 72% of the ambulatory staff actually checked oxygen flow in the tank after they had put the mask on the patient, 65% of the staff had removed the helmet of accident patients.64.8% had no idea about the respiratory rate, pulse count of an adult, 76.2% didn't know about the complications of an Intravenous installation. The study proved major lapses in knowledge and practices in Basic Life Support for ambulatory staff. Implementation of first aid's protocol are fully neglected, yielding an ambulance service that might let the patients suffer undue circumstances and also directly affects major indicators of primary health care