Acquisition of Basic Life Support skills in a fully computerised self-learning station compared to instructor-led training

Introduction: The Resusci Anne (RA) Skills StationTM (Laerdal, Norway) has shown to be a feasible strategy for Basic Life Support (BLS) refresher training. We expanded and tested this station for initial acquisition of BLS skills. Methods: 120 Pharmacy students were randomized into instructor-led (IL) group training (max 6 students, 90 minutes) or individual computer-guided (CG) training (max 60 minutes). CG participants first followed the instructions of an edited Mini AnneTM video (Laerdal, Norway) during 20 minutes using a full size torso and a face shield, immediately followed by the use of the RA Skills StationTM software with voice feedback. After 7 weeks students were tested performing BLS for 3 minutes. Adequate compression depth was defined as 40-55 mm, compression rate as 80-120/min, ventilation volume as 400-1000 ml. Results: After excluding 24 participants because of previous BLS training or illness, the IL and CG group had 47 (85% female, mean age 21 yrs) and 49 (70% female, mean age 21 yrs) participants respectively. Immediately after training, only one student in the CG group had not achieved adequate mean compression depth and one had not achieved adequate mean ventilation volume. After 7 weeks 32/47 (68%) of the participants from the IL group had adequate mean compression depth vs. 34/49 (69%) in the CG group. For mean compression rate this was 42/47 (89%) vs. 47/49 (96%), for mean ventilation volume 24/47 (51%) vs. 29/49 (59%). None of the differences were statistically significant. Conclusions: A video for self-directed learning followed by further refinement of skills with voice feedback resulted in adequate BLS skills in the majority of students without previous BLS training. The learning effect was similar to training with an instructor.

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