Assessment of the Level of Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Advanced Life Support Skills among Nurses Working in the Critical Areas (CCU, ICU and ER) of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore

Advance life support is the basic intervention to deal with cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest has no time, place, or personal boundaries. According to WHO, it is estimated that about 23 million of people will die every year due to cardiovascular diseases and the chances of cardiac arrest are greater in people who have history of cardiovascular diseases. Advanced life support training consists of a set of life-saving protocols, interventions, and skills. Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge and attitude of critical care nurses regarding Advanced Life Support (ALS) skills and to assess association between level of knowledge and attitude and demographic characteristics of nurses. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among critical care nurses of Punjab Institute of Cardiology. About 115 nurses were selected through convenient sampling method. The study was completed in four months from October 2023 to January 2024. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 25. Results: Findings of study showed that 18 participants were male and 97 were female. Overall results indicated that 8.7% (n=10) nurses have poor knowledge, 39.1% (n=45) have average knowledge, 43.5% (n=50) have a good knowledge and only 8.7% (n=10) have excellent knowledge. On the other side, 71.3% (n=82) have a positive attitude and 28.7% (n=33) have negative attitude regarding ALS. Conclusions: A significant proportion of nurses have average to good knowledge and positive attitude. Only a few nurses have poor knowledge and negative attitude.