Background:

Knowledge about basic life support (BLS) in nursing students involves both technical skills (compressions and ventilations) and non-technical skills (clinical judgment and decision-making).

Objectives:

To assess nursing students’ sociodemographic and academic characteristics; to assess nursing students’ theoretical knowledge about BLS and analyze the association between nursing students’ sociodemographic and academic characteristics and their theoretical knowledge about BLS.

Methodology:

Observational, descriptive, and correlational study with a sample of 496 nursing students selected using a nonprobability convenience sampling technique in two schools in the central region of Portugal.

Results:

Students demonstrated a good level of knowledge about BLS, with an average of 30.93 ± 2.29 on a scale from 0 to 37 points. They had a very good level of knowledge about safety conditions, the technical components of airway assessment, chest compressions, and ventilations. The level of knowledge is associated with age, year of undergraduate studies, and practical experience in BLS.

Conclusion:

Students have a good level of knowledge about BLS.

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