A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Training Program on  Knowledge and Practices Regarding Advanced Cardiovascular  Life Support (ACLS) among Staff Nurses in MMIMS & R  Hospital

Authors

Training, ACLS, staff nurses

Advance cardiovascular life support is a level of medical care which is used for clients with life threatening

illness. Death can occur at any time due to causes like stroke, poisoning, accidents, suicide, injury, medication

error, shock and cardiac arrest. Among these, cardiac arrest deaths remain major cause of mortality.

Therefore, one of the measures to improve survival is by introducing the concept of “chain of survival”. The

elements of the chain of survival include recognition of early warning signs, activation of the emergency

medical system, basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation, defibrillation, intubation and intravenous delivery of

medications. Advance cardiac life support (ACLS) refers to a set of clinical interventions for the urgent

treatment of cardiac arrest and other life threatening medical emergencies. Extensive medical knowledge and

rigorous hands-on training and practice are required to master ACLS. Only qualified health care providers,

physicians, paramedics, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and other specially trained health care

providers can provide ACLS, as it requires the ability to manage the patient’s airway, initiate IV access, read

and interpret electrocardiograms, and understand emergency pharmacology. Therefore, training program

on ACLS is required for staff nurses, to gain knowledge and improve skill. Quantitative approach was

selected with pre-test - post-test only design. 36 samples were chosen (working in ICU/ ICCU/ emergency/

medical wards / surgical wards) using random sampling technique. Training program was given to the study

subjects and a structured questionnaire and structured checklist was used to collect data regarding Advanced

cardiovascular life support of subjects before and after the administration of training program. Findings

revealed that the mean post-test sore was greater than the mean pre-test score. Thus it is concluded that the

training program on Advanced cardiovascular life support was effective for teaching and improving staff

nurse’s knowledge and practices.

Alka Walia1 , Simaranjit Kaur2, Vinay Kumari3

1 MSc Nursing M.M College of Nursing, 2Assistant Professor, College of nursing, Adesh University (Bathinda),

3 Professor, Chitkara School of Health Sciences, Chitkara University, Punjab, India