Knowledge and attitude towards basic life support (BLS) among dental students of dental colleges in south India

Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitude of students of dental schools in Southern India towards Basic Life Support (BLS), as well as to study the retention of BLS knowledge over time. Subjects and methods: A prevalidated questionnaire was employed, which contains 12 knowledge Questions and five questions designed to assess the students perspective towards BLS. It was hosted on Google Forms, and the URL was distributed to the Students. Results: A total of 267 responses were received, of which 66 were males and 201 were female students. Out of a maximum possible score of 12, the mean knowledge score of the group was 4.54. It was found that those who attended a BLS workshop within the last 2 years scored significantly better than those who either took it more than 2 years ago or had never undergone BLS training. Almost all participants (96%) agreed that there is a need for BLS to be learned by all dental students and hence BLS training should be part of the dental curriculum. 76.8% of respondents expressed reluctance to perform CPR on strangers. Conclusion: The findings show that the dental students who participated in the study had inadequate knowledge in BLS, but had a positive attitude towards the adoption of BLS into the dental curriculum.