Early or Late Booster for Basic Life Support?

Does an Early Booster Session Improve Performance and Retention of Skills in Basic Life Support Compared to a Later Booster? A Simulation Based Randomized Controlled Trial

Attrition of skills after basic life support (BLS) training is common. Psychology studies have established that for basic memory recall tasks, spaced learning strategies improve retention. Spaced learning is often organized as a refresher or 'booster' course after initial training. This study aims to investigate if this principle holds true for BLS skills, which require rapid memory recall and efficient deployment of procedural skills while under time pressure.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Basic Life Support
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Early Booster Teaching; Other: Late Booster Teaching

Detailed Description

Novice laypeople who have not received BLS training in the 6 months leading up to the date of participation will be recruited from the University of Ottawa and the general public. Participants will be randomized into one of three groups: early booster, late booster, or no booster (control). Currently, no booster is the educational standard. The early booster group will receive a booster at 3 weeks, the late booster at 2 months, and no booster for the control. All participants will undergo BLS training, an immediate post-test, and a retention post-test at 4 months. Post-tests involve a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. Raters will be blinded to the group allocation and simulation test order.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 95
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y4E9
      • The Ottawa Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Laypeople who have not received any BLS training or practice in the 6 months leading up to the date of their participation will be recruited.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Under 18 years old;
• Non layperson and Basic Life Training in less than 6 months.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Early Booster Teaching; The early booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 3 weeks post-training followed by feedback.	Other: Early Booster Teaching; The early booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 3 weeks post-training followed by feedback.
Active Comparator: Late booster Teaching; The late booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 2 months post-training followed by feedback.	Other: Late Booster Teaching; The late booster group will receive a booster teaching session at 2 months post-training followed by feedback
No Intervention: Control group; The control group will receive no booster at all.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Basic Life Support performance, as measured by the standardized Heart and Stroke Heartsaver checklist	BLS performance, as measured by the standardized Heart and Stroke Heartsaver checklist	4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time to start chest compression;	Time from entering the scene to initiation of compression (in seconds)	4 months
Accuracy of compression depth	Percentage of compressions that are deep enough	4 months
Compression ratio	The percentage of time during the scenario that compressions are done	4 months
Hand position	The percentage of time the hand position is correct	4 months
Tidal volume	Mean tidal volume (ml)	4 months
Ventilation success rate	The percentage of time ventilations are done with adequate volume 400-700mls	4 months
Time to defibrillation using AED.	Time from start to defibrillation using AED (in seconds)	4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Boet S, Waldolf R, Bould C, Lam S, Burns JK, Moffett S, McBride G, Ramsay T, Bould MD. Early or late booster for basic life support skill for laypeople: a simulation-based randomized controlled trial. CJEM. 2022 Jun;24(4):408-418. doi: 10.1007/s43678-022-00291-3. Epub 2022 Apr 19.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: November 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 6, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 16, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): December 20, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 7, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 6, 2018
• Last Verified: September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Basic Life Support; Education, Medical; Learning; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
• Other Study ID Numbers: 20150174-01H

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO