Abstract
Objective: A head-to-head trial was conducted to compare laypersons' long-term retention of life-saving psychomotor and cognitive skills learned in the traditional multi-hour training format for basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator use to those learned in an abbreviated (30 min) course. Methods: Laypersons were randomized to either: (1) the traditional multi-hour Heartsaver-Automated External Defibrillator® (Heartsaver-AED®) group; or (2) the 30-min course group (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, choking, and automated external defibrillator use). Immediately after training, and at 6 months, participants were provided identical individual testing scenarios. In addition to audio-video recordings, computerized recordings of compression rate/depth, ventilation rates, and related pauses were obtained and subsequently rated by blinded reviewers. Results: Performance following 30-min training was either equivalent or superior (p < 0.007) to the multi-hour Heartsaver-Automated External Defibrillator training in all measurements, both immediately and 6 months after training. Although retention of certain skills deteriorated over the 6 months among a significant number of participants from both groups, 84% of the 30-min training group still was judged, overall, to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation adequately. Moreover, 93% still were performing chest compressions adequately and 93% continued to apply the automated external defibrillator and deliver shocks correctly. Conclusions: Using innovative learning techniques, 30-min cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator training is as effective as traditional multi-hour courses, even after 6 months. Thirty-minute courses should decrease labor intensity, demands on resources, and time commitments for cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses, thus facilitating more widespread and frequent retraining.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 276-285 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Resuscitation |
Volume | 74 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2007 |
Keywords
- Adult learning
- American Heart Association
- Automated external defibrillator (AED)
- Cardiac arrest
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- Chest compression
- First aid
- Manikin
- Rescue
- Sudden cardiac death
- Training
- Utstein
- Ventilation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine
- Emergency
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine