Abstract
Preregistration house officers need to be able to manage the first 5–10 minutes of a cardiac arrest. A course has been designed based on the recommendations of the Resuscitation Council UK 1984 and the format of the American Heart Association advanced cardiac life support course. Fifty-nine newly qualified doctors from the same medical school class were studied in two consecutive groups: Group 1 (n = 31) were commencing their first post and Group 2 (n = 28), whose first preregistration post had been at other hospitals without practical resuscitation training, were commencing their second post. They were pretested and taught in three 2-hour sessions. Five months later they were tested to measure retention of knowledge and skills. Before training there was no difference in knowledge between the two groups but Group 1 were more skilled. The knowledge and skills of both groups immediately after training were significantly improved and at 5 months skills were subject to modest decay only. Experience of managing cardiac arrests was not a substitute for formal practical training.
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Contributor Information
William Kaye, Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Cardiology Cardiology Department and Department of Anaesthetics, and Psychology Unit, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and Associate Professor of Surgery and Medicine Division of Critical Care Medicine, Departments of Surgery and Medicine, Brown University and The Miriam Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Geralyn Wynne, District Resuscitation Training Officer Cardiology Department and Department of Anaesthetics, and Psychology Unit, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London.
Theresa Marteau, Lecturer in Health Psychology Cardiology Department and Department of Anaesthetics, and Psychology Unit, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London.
Howard G. Dubin, Instructor in Surgery Division of Critical Care Medicine, Departments of Surgery and Medicine, Brown University and The Miriam Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Sharon F. Rallis, Research Associate Center for Evaluation and Research, Rhode Island College, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
R. S. Simons, Consultant Anaesthetist Cardiology Department and Department of Anaesthetics, and Psychology Unit, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London
T. R. Evans, Consultant Cardiologist Cardiology Department and Department of Anaesthetics, and Psychology Unit, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London