The effective group size for teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills - a randomized controlled simulation trial.

Nabecker, Sabine; Huwendiek, Sören; Theiler, Lorenz; Huber, Markus; Petrowski, Katja; Greif, Robert (2021). The effective group size for teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills - a randomized controlled simulation trial. Resuscitation, 165, pp. 77-82. Elsevier Science Ireland 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.05.034

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AIM OF THE STUDY

The ideal group size for effective teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is currently under debate. The upper limit is reached when instructors are unable to correct participants' errors during skills practice. This simulation study aimed to define this limit during cardiopulmonary resuscitation teaching.

METHODS

Medical students acting as simulated Basic Life Support course participants were instructed to make three different pre-defined Basic Life Support quality errors (e.g., chest compression too fast) in 7 minutes. Basic Life Support instructors were randomized to groups of 3-10 participants. Instructors were asked to observe the Basic Life Support skills and to correct performance errors. Primary outcome was the maximum group size at which the percentage of correctly identified participants' errors drops below 80%.

RESULTS

Sixty-four instructors participated, eight for each group size. Their average age was 41 ± 9 years and 33% were female, with a median [25th percentile; 75th percentile] teaching experience of 6 [2;11] years. Instructors had taught 3 [1;5] cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses in the year before the study. A logistic binominal regression model showed that the predicted mean percentage of correctly identified participants' errors dropped below 80% for group sizes larger than six.

CONCLUSION

This randomized controlled simulation trial reveals decreased ability of instructors to detect Basic Life Support performance errors with increased group size. The maximum group size enabling Basic Life Support instructors to correct more than 80% of errors is six. We therefore recommend a maximum instructor-to-participant ratio of 1:6 for cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Intensive Care, Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesiology (DINA) > Clinic and Policlinic for Anaesthesiology and Pain Therapy
04 Faculty of Medicine > Medical Education > Institute for Medical Education > Master of Medical Education (MME)

UniBE Contributor:

Nabecker, Sabine, Huwendiek, Sören, Huber, Markus, Greif, Robert

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0300-9572

Publisher:

Elsevier Science Ireland

Language:

English

Submitter:

Jeannie Wurz

Date Deposited:

01 Jul 2021 16:40

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:51

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.05.034

PubMed ID:

34107336

Uncontrolled Keywords:

BLS CPR education group size

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/157133

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157133

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