Retention of Basic Life Support Skills Following Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training Based on American Heart Association Guidelines in Healthcare Professionals Working in a General Hospital

Min,  Mun Ki; Ryu,  Ji Ho; Kim,  Yong In; Park,  Maeng Real; Lee,  Seong Hwa; Han,  Sang kyoon

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 22(4); 2011 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2011;22(4): 320-328.

Retention of Basic Life Support Skills Following Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training Based on American Heart Association Guidelines in Healthcare Professionals Working in a General Hospital

Mun Ki Min, Ji Ho Ryu, Yong In Kim, Maeng Real Park, Seong Hwa Lee, Sang kyoon Han

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Korea. pnuyhem@gmail.com
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Korea.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE:
Traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training methods have been gradually replaced by practice-oriented methods such as the American Heart Association (AHA) basic life support (BLS) course for healthcare providers. We attempted to investigate nurses' and other healthcare professionals' retention of BLS skills over time after taking the AHA BLS course for healthcare providers.
METHODS:
Healthcare providers were screened for their retention of CPR skills at regular intervals up to 1 year after completing the AHA BLS course. Certified BLS instructors administered skills tests.
RESULTS:
The degree of skills maintained over time decreased, but not significantly (p=0.207, p=0.160). The scores of written tests decreased over time, but not significantly (p=0.082). The degree of CPR knowledge and skills main-tained was higher in the nurse group than in the healthcare professional group; this difference was statistically significant (p=0.02, <0.001, <0.001). However, regarding the degree of knowledge and skills for CPR maintained over time, there was no statistically significant difference between each group.
CONCLUSION:
After the AHA BLS course for healthcare providers, in-hospital healthcare professionals retain significantly less information after 3 months. We suggest that a skill review is needed within 3 months after CPR training.

Key words: Basic Life Support (BLS), training, retention