Comparison of three methods of cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in terms of improving the skills of emergency medical technicians; a pretest–posttest study

Shirin Madadian; Mojgan Rahimi; Peyman Saberian; Parisa  Hasani-Sharamin; Amirhossein Orandi; Alireza Jalali; Seyed Khalil Pestechi; Sepideh Aarabi; Mahshid Faghani

doi:10.18502/fem.v7i2.12766

Shirin Madadian School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mojgan Rahimi Department of Anesthesiology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Peyman Saberian Department of Anesthesiology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Parisa Hasani-Sharamin Tehran Emergency Medical Service Center, Tehran, Iran.
Amirhossein Orandi Department of Anesthesiology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Alireza Jalali Department of Emergency Medicine, Sina Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Khalil Pestechi Department of Anesthesiology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Sepideh Aarabi Department of Emergency Medicine, Sina Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mahshid Faghani Department of Internal Medicine, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fem.v7i2.12766

Keywords: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; Emergency Medical Services: Emergency Medical Technicians; Teaching

Abstract

Objective: There are several methods for teaching emergency medical technicians (EMTs) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); but choosing the most effective option depends on several factors. This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of three different CPR training methods, including traditional, peer, and virtual methods, for EMTs.

Methods: This study was a pretest-posttest study, which was performed from March to September 2020 in Tehran, Iran. Participants were EMTs working in the operations department of the EMS center. In the first step, for the pretest evaluation, an Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) exam was held for all participants. Thereafter, the subjects were divided into 3 groups including master-centered traditional collective education, peer training, and virtual courses. Then the participants underwent educational intervention and after that, another OSCE exam was held about 1 week after the sessions to evaluate the effect of interventions.

Results: At first, 156 volunteers entered the study and participated in the pretest OSCE exam, of which 125 volunteers participated in the posttest OSCE exam. Of these, 51 volunteers participated in the peer education group, 35 volunteers were in the virtual education group, and 39 volunteers in the classic education group. The mean score of the participants in all 4 assessed skills, including endotracheal intubation, laryngeal mask airway insertion, basic life support, and advanced life support, increased significantly after educational intervention in all 3 groups (p<0.05); and this increase was higher in the virtual group compared to the other two groups (p<0.05).

Conclusion: We found that virtual training was more effective than classic and peer training for CPR training of EMTs.