A Randomized Trial of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training for Medical Students: Voice Advisory Mannequin Compared to Guidance Provided by an Instructor

Abstract

Current European Resuscitation Guidelines 2010 recommend the use of prompt/feedback devices when training for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We aimed to assess the quality of CPR training among second-year medical students with a voice advisory mannequin (VAM) compared to guidance provided by an instructor. Forty-three students received a theoretical reminder about CPR followed by a 2-minute pretest on CPR (compressions/ventilations cycle) with Resusci Anne SkillReporter (Laerdal Medical). They were then randomized into a control group (n = 22), trained by an instructor for 4 minutes per student, and an intervention group (n = 21) trained individually with VAM CPR mannequin for 4 minutes. After training, the students performed a 2-minute posttest, with the same method as the pretest. Participants in the intervention group (VAM) performed more correct hand position (73% vs. 37%; P = 0.014) and tended to display better compression rate (124 min vs. 135 min; P = 0.089). In a stratified analyses by sex we found that only among women trained with VAM was there a significant improvement in compression depth before and after training (36 mm vs. 46 mm, P = 0.018) and in the percentage of insufficient compressions before and after training (56% vs. 15%; P = 0.021). In comparison to the traditional training method involving an instructor, training medical students in CPR with VAM improves the quality of chest compressions in hand position and in compression rate applied to mannequins. Only among women was VAM shown to be superior in compression depth training. This technology reduces costs in 14% in our setup and might potentially release instructors' time for other activities.