JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Basic life support (BLS) education is essential for improving bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rates, but the imparting of such education faced obstacles during the outbreak of the emerging infectious diseases such as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. When face-to-face teaching is limited, distance learning—blended learning (BL) or an online-only model—is encouraged. However, evidence regarding the effect of online-only CPR training is scarce, and comparative studies on classroom-based BL (CBL) are lacking. While other strategies have recommended self-directed learning and deliberate practice to enhance CPR education, none of the previous studies have incorporated all of these instructional methods, into a BLS course.

Objective:

This study aimed to demonstrate a novel BLS training model—remote practice BL (RBL)—and compare its educational outcomes with those of the conventional CBL model.

Methods:

A static-group comparison study was conducted. It included RBL and CBL courses, that shared the same paradigm, comprising online lectures, a deliberate practice session with Little Anne QCPR® manikin feedback, and a final assessment session. In the main intervention, the RBL group was required to perform distant self-directed deliberate practice, and complete the final assessment via an online video conference. Manikin-rated CPR scores were measured as the primary outcome, and the number of retakes of the final examination as the secondary outcome.

Results:

Around 52 and 104 participants from the RBL and CBL groups, respectively, were eligible for data analysis. A comparison of the two groups revealed that there were more women in the RBL group (69.2% vs. 49%, P=.017), but no significant differences in terms of their scores relating to online lectures (90.9 vs. 91.8, P=.413), QCPR release (96.9 vs. 96.4, P=.617), QCPR depth (99.2 vs. 99.5, P=.105) and QCPR rate (94.9 vs. 95.5, P=.420). The RBL group spent more days ahead of the final assessment (12.4 vs. 8.9 days, P<.001), and its number of retakes was also more (1.4 vs. 1.1 times, P<.001).

Conclusions:

The RBL-based BLS course is effective and feasible for online-only distance CPR training. In terms of CPR performance, using remote self-directed deliberate practice was not inferior to the conventional classroom-based instructor-led method, although it tended to take more time to achieve the same effect. Clinical Trial: not applicable