Practical examination of bystanders performing Basic Life Support in Germany: a prospective manikin study

Factors affecting knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers towards basic life support in Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan: a cross-sectional analysis

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers towards basic life support (BLS) in Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, and to investigate the factors affecting them.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

This study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan.

PARTICIPANTS

201 healthcare professionals were recruited for this study through simple convenience sampling which included house officers (HOs), trained medical officers, postgraduate residents, professors, specialty registrars and nurses. Healthcare professionals who were reluctant to give consent were excluded from the study.

RESULTS

Among the chosen participants, only 16.4% had good knowledge whereas 63% had a good attitude towards BLS. Knowledge of participants was found to be positively associated with less time elapsed between the training sessions (p=0.041). On the other hand, factors such as age(p=0.004), designation (p=0.05), number of BLS sessions attended (p=0.012) and the time elapsed since the last BLS session attended (p=0.015), were positively associated with the attitude of healthcare professionals.

CONCLUSION

The level of knowledge and attitude towards BLS by healthcare professionals was suboptimal. Those individuals who had attended BLS training sessions frequently had better knowledge and attitude as compared with their counterparts.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) psychomotor skills of laypeople, as affected by training interventions, number of times trained and retention testing intervals: A dataset derived from a systematic review

This article is a companion to a systematic review, entitled, Associations between cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) knowledge, self-efficacy, training history and willingness to perform CPR and CPR psychomotor skills: a systematic review (Riggs et al., 2019). The data tables described in this article summarise the impact that specific training interventions, number of times trained, and retention testing intervals have on laypeople's CPR psychomotor skills, as reported by peer-reviewed journal articles. The psychomotor skills included are: compression rate, compression depth, duration of interruptions to compressions, chest recoil, hand placement, proportion of adequate or ’correct’ compressions, ventilation volume, compression-to-ventilation ratio, duty cycle and overall skills. The data tables described in this article are available as a supplementary file to this article.

Associations between cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) knowledge, self-efficacy, training history and willingness to perform CPR and CPR psychomotor skills: A systematic review

AIM

To determine whether training history (including number of times and duration since last training), knowledge, self-efficacy or willingness are associated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) psychomotor skills.

METHODS

Eight databases were systematically searched from January 2005 to February 2018 for articles that involved adult layperson participants and explored an association between training history, knowledge, self-efficacy or willingness and CPR psychomotor skills or survival outcomes after real CPR attempts.

RESULTS

Thirty-four articles with a total of 35,421 participants were included. CPR training was found to improve psychomotor skills, compared to no training, and any previous training was associated with better skills, compared to no previous training, however only the use of a popular song promoted meaningful retention of a specifically targeted skill, compared to standard training methods. Skills deteriorated within 3 months, then plateaued from 3 to 6 months. Self-efficacy was weakly associated with skill level, however knowledge was not associated with skill level. No studies assessed the association between willingness and psychomotor skills.

CONCLUSION

All laypeople should attend an instructor-led CPR training session with real-time or delayed feedback to improve CPR skills. Training sessions should utilise combinations of validated skill-specific training strategies, preferably including popular songs and feedback to help ensure skills retention. Refresher training, which focusses on skills and self-confidence rather than knowledge, should be undertaken every 3-6 months, although this timeframe needs further validation. All future studies assessing CPR psychomotor skills should adhere to a standardised reporting outcome list (proposed in this paper) to ensure consistency and comparability of results.

Schoolchildren as BLS instructors for relatives and friends: Impact on attitude towards bystander CPR

INTRODUCTION

We investigated the impact of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) instruction by children on the attitude of people to perform bystander CPR.

METHODS

In 2012, children from primary and secondary school (age span 11–13 years) received a free individual CPR training package containing an inexpensive manikin and a training video. After a CPR training session by their class teacher, they were invited to teach their relatives and friends. After the training, the trainees of the children were invited to participate in a web survey, containing a test and questions about prior CPR training and about their attitude towards bystander CPR (BCPR) before and after the training. We measured the impact on the attitude to perform BCPR and the theoretical knowledge transfer by the children.

RESULTS

A total of 4012 training packages were distributed to 72 schools of which 55 class teachers subscribed their students (n = 822) for the training programme for relatives and friends. After a validation procedure, 874 trainees of 290 children were included in the study. In comparison to trainees of secondary schoolchildren, trainees of primary schoolchildren scored better for the test as well as for a positive change of attitude towards future BCPR (P < 0.001). For every child-instructor 1.7 people changed their attitude towards BCPR positively.

CONCLUSIONS

Instructing schoolchildren to teach their relatives and friends in Basic Life Support (BLS) led to a more positive attitude towards BCPR. The results were more positive with trainees from primary schoolchildren than with trainees from secondary schoolchildren.

Impact of additional module training on the level of basic life support knowledge of first year students at the University of Maribor

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of additional (two versus one session) basic life support (BLS) training of university students on knowledge and attitude concerning the performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

METHODS

A total of 439 students in three separate groups were tested: those with no prior BLS training; BLS training in high school (part of the driver's education course); and BLS training in high school (in the driver's education course) and additional BLS training at the university.

RESULTS

Our study showed the best results of BLS education in a group of university students who took an additional BLS module approximately half a year after the driver's education BLS course. In our study we observed equal levels of knowledge between the group with BLS training in high school and the group without any formal BLS education. The questionnaire revealed a disappointing level of knowledge about BLS in both groups.

CONCLUSION

Additional basic life support training (two BLS training sessions: high school and university) improves retention of knowledge and attitudes concerning performing CPR in first year university students.

Benefits of computer screen-based simulation in learning cardiac arrest procedures

OBJECTIVES

What is the best way to train medical students early so that they acquire basic skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation as effectively as possible? Studies have shown the benefits of high-fidelity patient simulators, but have also demonstrated their limits. New computer screen-based multimedia simulators have fewer constraints than high-fidelity patient simulators. In this area, as yet, there has been no research on the effectiveness of transfer of learning from a computer screen-based simulator to more realistic situations such as those encountered with high-fidelity patient simulators.

METHODS

We tested the benefits of learning cardiac arrest procedures using a multimedia computer screen-based simulator in 28 Year 2 medical students. Just before the end of the traditional resuscitation course, we compared two groups. An experiment group (EG) was first asked to learn to perform the appropriate procedures in a cardiac arrest scenario (CA1) in the computer screen-based learning environment and was then tested on a high-fidelity patient simulator in another cardiac arrest simulation (CA2). While the EG was learning to perform CA1 procedures in the computer screen-based learning environment, a control group (CG) actively continued to learn cardiac arrest procedures using practical exercises in a traditional class environment. Both groups were given the same amount of practice, exercises and trials. The CG was then also tested on the high-fidelity patient simulator for CA2, after which it was asked to perform CA1 using the computer screen-based simulator. Performances with both simulators were scored on a precise 23-point scale.

RESULTS

On the test on a high-fidelity patient simulator, the EG trained with a multimedia computer screen-based simulator performed significantly better than the CG trained with traditional exercises and practice (16.21 versus 11.13 of 23 possible points, respectively; p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Computer screen-based simulation appears to be effective in preparing learners to use high-fidelity patient simulators, which present simulations that are closer to real-life situations.