Abstract: To assess the effectiveness of Emergency Preparedness Protocol on knowledge and skill regarding pre hospital management of cardiac emergencies among patients with chronic illness and their caregivers. Methodology: A quasi- experimental, non – equivalent control group pre-test, post-test research design was adopted to assess the effectiveness of Emergency Preparedness Protocol among 120 patients and their care givers (30 patients with chronic illness + 30 caregivers in each experimental group and control group) conducted in various hospital settings at kanyakumari district who satisfied the inclusion criteria were selected as samples based on Non probability convenient sampling technique. Education given on Emergency Preparedness Protocol using power point presentation includes general information about cardiac emergencies, signs and symptoms, assessment techniques, emergency measures and use of cardiac emergency kit to handle cardiac emergencies at home for 20 – 30 minutes, preparation of cardiac emergency kit for 5 -10mins, demonstration and re demonstration on the steps of Blood pressure monitoring on the patient and Adult Basic Life Support (BLS) techniques on a mannequin to a group of 5 to 10 care givers for 10mins. The pre and post-test level of knowledge for patients with chronic illness and their caregivers and pre and post-test level of skill for caregivers were assessed using structured knowledge questionnaire and observational checklist respectively. Results: The findings of the study revealed that the calculated unpaired‘t’ value for the post-test level of knowledge among experimental group patients was t=13.32 which showed a very high statistical significance at p<0.001 level. The calculated unpaired‘t’ value for the experimental group caregivers was t=14.28 which showed a very high statistical significance at p<0.001 level. The calculated unpaired‘t’ value for the post-test level of skill among experimental group caregivers was t=13.43, which showed a very high statistical significance at p<0.001 level. Conclusion: The results revealed that Emergency Preparedness Protocol was effective in improving knowledge and skill regarding pre hospital management of cardiac emergencies among patients with chronic illness and their caregivers.

Keywords: Cardiac emergencies, pre hospital management, CPR, patients with chronic illness, caregivers