Skill acquisition by health care workers in the Resuscitation Council (UK) 2005 Guidelines for Adult Basic Life Support

Abstract 

This prospective study compared pre- and post-class performance in basic life support (BLS) on a recording manikin in a convenience sample of 34 health care workers undertaking a two-hour class provided by a hospital resuscitation department teaching the 2005 Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines.

On completion of training there were significant improvements in the proportion of subjects correctly performing a safe approach (14/34 vs. 25/33, 95%CI +11 to +55%, p=0.004), checking for response (17/34 vs. 24/32, 95%CI +1 to +46%, p=0.029), shouting for help (18/34 vs. 28/32, 95%CI +13 to +54%, p=0.002), opening the airway (6/34 vs. 26/32, 95%CI +42 to +79%, p<0.001), checking for breathing (9/34 vs. 27/32, 95%CI +35 to +74%, p<0.001), calling a cardiac arrest team (1/34 vs. 24/32, 95%CI +53 to +85%, p<0.001), and providing the correct compression to breath ratio (11/34 vs. 20/34, +3 to +48%, p=0.033). The median number of correct chest compressions increased from 3 to 41 (p<0.001) with improvements in adequate depth (median depth 36 vs. 40mm, p=0.006), although the compression rate was too fast before training and increased afterwards (median 123 vs. 147, p<0.001). Ventilation performance could not be measured accurately as the manikin was calibrated incorrectly by the manufacturers.

Keywords: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Heart massage, Education, Basic cardiac life support