Awareness and Perceptions of Basic Life Support (BLS) among Staff, Students and Abadina Residents of the University of Ibadan

Abstract

Background: Several studies have been conducted on knowledge of Basic Life Support (BLS) among health workers globally, including Nigeria. However, only few have been carried out among non-health workers, especially staff, students and residents of a higher institution in Nigeria. The study therefore assessed the awareness and perceptions of Basic Life Support among staff, students and residents of University of Ibadan. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for collecting data for this study. The questionnaire was in three sections, was semi-structured and self-administered based on the set objectives. Data collected were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 21.0. Results: Majority of the respondents were not trained in BLS (77.7%), majority had poor awareness of BLS (61.3%) and a little above average (52.5%) had good perceptions about BLS. A significant number would rather offer BLS to a relative rather than a stranger (86.4%), quite a number would not offer BLS for the fear of harming victim’s bones and organs. Many would not offer BLS for the fear of making mistake (79.4%). Majority would not perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for the fear of contracting infection (93.5%) while a sizeable number believed that BLS should only be performed by medical personnel (83.9%). Conclusion: Appropriate measures should be taken to improve on the awareness and perceptions of Basic Life Support so as to reduce deaths attributable to Out-of-Hospital-Cardiac-Arrest (OHCA), Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Challenges experienced by nurses regarding the involvement of guardians in integrated management of childhood illnesses in Vhembe District

“…The work pressure is further increased by other responsibilities that nurses must undertake in the clinic besides patient care, which include attending meetings and training required for the programme to run effectively. This observation was also reported in a similar study in South Africa and Nigeria, where nurses were overwhelmed by multiple responsibilities (Pandya et al, 2018;Oladokun et al, 2022). The few remaining nurses had to undertake all patient caring responsibilities, consequently increasing waiting times and making the guardians waiting for the service impatient with the providers.…”

“…Having to ask the guardians to go and buy medicine or hire a car to take the child to the hospital was found to be unacceptable. The resources challenge was not unique to the current study, as shortage of medication, poor infrastructure and funds for awareness campaigns were found to impede the effectiveness of the IMCI programme in several countries (Meno et al, 2019;Oladokun et al, 2022;Reñosa et al, 2021;Tshivhase et al, 2021). For this reason, the community tends to lose confidence in the healthcare system and not even trust the providers' advice because they do not receive the full service they require (Meno et al, 2019).…”