The Effects of Different Instructional Cpr Method on the Acquisition and Retention of Cpr Skills in Soldiers: A Controlled Randomized Trial

Background]the mortality rate of outofhospital cardiac arrest (ohca) is high and it's shown that bystander cpr increases the survival rate of these patients by two to threefolds. several methods are introduced to improve the acquisition and retention of cprrelated knowledge learned in courses.[objectives]the current study aimed to compare three different methods of teaching cpr in terms of primary acquisition and retention of such skills in soldiers.[methods]this study was performed from november 2019 to february 2020 on selected duty male soldiers doing their military service. participants were randomized into 1 of the following 4 groups: (1) a lecturebased, 30minute class session followed by a onehour practice on a manikin; (2) a 20minute instructional video followed by a onehour practice on a manikin; (3) a 20minute instructional video without practice on a manikin (video only); and (4) no intervention. the performance and retention of cpr skills were assessed using a checklist by two referees. the preparation score, abc score, and total score were assessed using this checklist.[results]fifty male participants with a mean age of 22.44 ± 2.08 years were included. the median score of groups 1 3 increased significantly after the intervention compared to the pretest results. group 3 (video only) experienced the highest increment in the preparation score (2.30). concerning the abc and total scores, group 1 (class session) showed the highest increment of scores (22.70 and 24.82, respectively). group 3 (video only) showed the most sustained results compared to groups 1 and 2 one month after the intervention.[conclusions]according to the results, the classroom session teaching with a manikin practice accompanied better acquisition of cpr skills. however, the retention of cpr skills is better maintained with a simple videoonly method.