Abstract:
Background: Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Healthcare
professionals' good knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding basic life support are vital to
improve patient outcomes after cardiac arrest. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes,
practice and associated factors toward basic life support among healthcare professionals at
Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia, 2022.
Methodology: Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 01 October to 30
November 2022. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was
coded and entered into Epidata 4.6.0.6 and then exported to SPSS 25 for analysis. Logistic
regression analysis was done for identifying associated factors. Crude and adjusted odds ratio
was used to interpret the strength of association at 95% CI and P-value < 0.05 was considered
statistical significant.
Results: 280 healthcare professionals participated in the study with a response rate of 98.6%,
and 88 (31.4%), 112 (40.0%), and 80 (28.6%) of them had good knowledge, favorable attitude
and good practice, respectively. Experience (AOR: 9.22, 95% CI 1.08 to 78.59), working at ICU
(AOR: 16.11, 95% CI 1.77 to 146.5), exposure to cardiac arrest cases (AOR: 3.88, 95% CI 1.45
to 10.35), and taking BLS training (AOR: 3.45, 95% CI 1.16 to 10.27) were statistically
significantly to good knowledge. Exposure to cardiac arrest cases (AOR: 2.58, 95% 1.31 to 5.10)
and taking BLS training (AOR: 2.31, 95% CI 1.07 to 4.96) were significantly associated with a
favorable attitude. Working at ICU (AOR= 33.18, 95% CI 5.17 to 212.9), exposure to cardiac
arrest (AOR: 2.55, 95% CI 1.07 to 6.06) and taking BLS training (AOR: 5.02, 95% CI 1.98 to
12.68) were positively associated with good practice.
Conclusions: The level of knowledge, attitude and practice of health professionals towards BLS
was substandard. Exposure to cardiac arrest cases and taking BLS training were significantly
associated with good knowledge, favorable attitude and good practice.While experience is
significantly associated with good knowledge, workplace is statistically significant to both
knowledge and practice. Thus, providing regular BLS training and workplace rotations is highly
crucial.
