title: Awareness of basic life support among staff and students in a dental school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess and compare the knowledge of basic life support (BLS) among third, fourth and fifth (III, IV and V) year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) clinical students, dental interns, postgraduate students and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) faculty of Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Hyderabad, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A BLS questionnaire consisting of 22 questions was used to assess the levels of III, IV and V years BDS clinical students, dental interns, postgraduate students and BDS and MDS faculty of Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Hyderabad, India. Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS version 12.0) was used to analyze the statistical data. The p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 338 respondents took part in the study. When gender comparison was done with correct knowledge responses, statistically significant differences were noted for Q6, Q9, Q12, Q13, Q15 and Q17. For age groups and educational qualifications, significant difference was observed for all questions. It was noted that III, IV and V year undergraduate clinical students and half of interns had adequate knowledge when compared to postgraduate students (6.9%), BDS tutors (0.00%) and MDS staff (10.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study concludes that there is a significant lack of knowledge among postgraduates students BDS and MDS faculty, regarding BLS when compared to III, IV and V year's clinical BDS students and dental interns. This study emphasizes the need for all health care professionals to regularly update the knowledge and skills regarding BLS.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India, Phone: +91-9440771991, e-mail: k_sahithireddy@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sahithi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Dolar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.forename: Padma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Suhas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education*; D004497:Education, Dental; D004499:Education, Dental, Graduate; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D004522:Educational Status; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013335:Students, Dental; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult