title: Awareness of basic life support among dental practitioners.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important that every member of our community should be trained in effective BLS technique to save lives. At least doctors including dental practitioners, and medical and paramedical staff should be trained in high quality CPR, as it is a basic medical skill which can save many lives if implemented timely.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to study the awareness of Basic Life Support (BLS) among dental students and practitioners in New Delhi.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross sectional study was conducted by assessing responses to 20 selected questions pertaining to BLS among dental students, resident doctors/tutors, faculty members and private practitioners in New Delhi. All participants were given a printed questionnaire where they had to mention their qualifications and clinical experience, apart from answering 20 questions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected and evaluated using commercially available statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 12).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and four responders were included. Sadly, none of our responders had complete knowledge about BLS. The maximum mean score (9.19 ± 1.23) was obtained by dentists with clinical experience between 1-5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To ensure better and safer healthcare, it is essential for all dental practitioners to be well versed with BLS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, ESIC Dental College and Hospital, Rohini, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baduni
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, ESIC Dental College and Hospital, Rohini, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Prem
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, ESIC Dental College and Hospital, Rohini, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Dhirendra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, GB Pant Hospital, JLN Marg, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Manoj Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sanwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, ESIC Dental College and Hospital, Rohini, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Bijender Pal
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Singh
keywords: Basic life support; cardiopulmonary arrest; dental practitioners