English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Basic life support (BLS) although a lifesaving skill, is seldom taught in the first year of traditional Indian undergraduate medical curriculum resulting in lack of competence and confidence. Medical Council of India’s new competency based undergraduate curriculum stresses on early skill acquisition. Basic life support hands-on workshop can be a simple yet effective educational intervention in achieving the goal. The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of introduction of BLS training workshop to first year MBBS curriculum as a part of foundation course skills development. METHODS An interventional study in the form of BLS workshop consisting of lecture, demonstration and hands on practice on mannequins was conducted on first MBBS students. Assessment was done by standardized pre- and post-test questionnaire and direct observation of procedural skills (DOPS). Student’s perception was qualitatively explored by conducting focus group discussions (FGD) followed by thematic analysis. RESULTS Analysis of median pre- and post-test scores using Wilcoxon test matched pairs signed rank test revealed highly significant gain in knowledge and confidence (P value = 0.000). Thirty three percent students could perform all the seven steps of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) correctly, meeting all six quality indicators indicating satisfactory skill acquisition. Six overarching themes emerged from the focus group responses viz. importance of clinical skill acquisition in first year, suggested methods to improve skill training, effectiveness of BLS workshop, usefulness of learning BLS skill, readiness to perform CPR in real life scenario and need for curriculum reformation. CONCLUSIONS Simulation-based hands-on workshop can serve as an effective teaching learning strategy for foundation course BLS skills development under new competencybased first MBBS curriculum by Medical Council of India (MCI). KEYWORDS Basic Life Support, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, MBBS, Curriculum, Competency, Qualitative Analysis, Medical Education