Early or Late Booster for Basic Life Support?

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Basic Life Support
• Interventions: Other: Late Booster Teaching; Other: Early Booster Teaching

• Registration Number: NCT02998723
• Lead Sponsor: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Brief Summary

Attrition of skills after basic life support (BLS) training is common. Psychology studies have established that for basic memory recall tasks, spaced learning strategies improve retention. Spaced learning is often organized as a refresher or 'booster' course after initial training. This study aims to investigate if this principle holds true for BLS skills, which require rapid memory recall and efficient deployment of procedural skills while under time pressure.

Detailed Description

Novice laypeople who have not received BLS training in the 6 months leading up to the date of participation will be recruited from the University of Ottawa and the general public. Participants will be randomized into one of three groups: early booster, late booster, or no booster (control). Currently, no booster is the educational standard. The early booster group will receive a booster at 3 weeks, the late booster at 2 months, and no booster for the control. All participants will undergo BLS training, an immediate post-test, and a retention post-test at 4 months. Post-tests involve a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. Raters will be blinded to the group allocation and simulation test order.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-11
• Study First Submitted: 2016-12-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-12-16
• Study First Posted: 2016-12-20
• Primary Completion: 2017-04
• Study Completion: 2017-04
• Status Verified: 2018-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2018-09-06
• Last Update Posted: 2018-09-07

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 95

Inclusion Criteria

• Laypeople who have not received any BLS training or practice in the 6 months leading up to the date of their participation will be recruited.

Exclusion Criteria

• Under 18 years old;
• Non layperson and Basic Life Training in less than 6 months.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Late booster Teaching	Late Booster Teaching	The late booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 2 months post-training followed by feedback.
Early Booster Teaching	Early Booster Teaching	The early booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 3 weeks post-training followed by feedback.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Basic Life Support performance, as measured by the standardized Heart and Stroke Heartsaver checklist	4 months	BLS performance, as measured by the standardized Heart and Stroke Heartsaver checklist

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Tidal volume	4 months	Mean tidal volume (ml)
Time to start chest compression;	4 months	Time from entering the scene to initiation of compression (in seconds)
Accuracy of compression depth	4 months	Percentage of compressions that are deep enough
Time to defibrillation using AED.	4 months	Time from start to defibrillation using AED (in seconds)
Hand position	4 months	The percentage of time the hand position is correct
Compression ratio	4 months	The percentage of time during the scenario that compressions are done
Ventilation success rate	4 months	The percentage of time ventilations are done with adequate volume 400-700mls

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The Ottawa Hospital; 🇨🇦 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada