Effective planned teaching programme on knowledge &practice of basic life support among students in Arakkonam

Background: Heart disease is the world's largest killer, claiming 17.5 million lives every year About every 29 seconds, an Indian dies of heart problem.By 2020, India will have the largest coronary heart disease (CAD) burden in the world and will account for one third of all deaths, many of them will be young. The risk of sudden cardiac death from coronary artery disease.in adults is estimated to be 1 per 1,000 adults 35 years of age and older per year, About 75 percent to 80 percent of all outofhospital cardiac arrests happen at home. Hence, being trained to perform basic life support (BLS) can make the difference between life and death for a victim. Objectives 1. To assess the existing level of knowledge and practice of high school student on BLS. 2. To develop and validate planned teaching programme (PTP) knowledge and practice regarding basic life support. 3. To determine the effectiveness of PTP in terms of gain in knowledge and practice scores. 4. To determine the relationship between knowledge and practice scores of BLS among high school students. Research Methodology: The research design used for the study was quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 40 rural high school students belonging to 14-16 years. The study was conducted in rural high schools of Arakkonam and the subjects were selected through simple random sampling technique. The structured questionnaire on BLS consisted of meaning goal of BLS, procedure of BLS and post resuscitation complication observation checklist consisted of assessment phase and performance phase. Results: Data analysis revealed that majority of the sample (23, 57.5%) were in the age group of 14-15 years and 17 (42.5%) in the age group of 15-16 years; 20 (50%) were males and 20 (50%) were females; 34 (85%) were not ex-posed to any information on BLS. The mean post-test knowledge score (74.92%) was found to be significantly higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score (27.03%) (t value =31.019, p <0.05). Similarly the mean post-test practice score (69.50%)was found to be significantly higher than the mean pre-test practice score (18.11%). (ta value =30.929, p < 0.05 ).The coefficient of correlation between the pre-test knowledge and practice and posttest knowledge and practice were (r=-0203, r= -0.021) at 0.05 level of significance indicating there is low negative correlation. Conclusion: The study showed that majority 35 (87.5%) of the students had inadequate knowledge and 40 (100%) had poor practice. The PTP facilitated them to update their knowledge and practice related to BLS. Hence the PTP was an effective teaching strategy to improve the knowledge and practice of sample on BLS.