Can VAST Improve ACLS in Rwanda

Can the VAST Course Enhance Resuscitation Skills in a Resource-limited Setting?

Aim The purpose of this study is to determine if the addition of the VAST Course to technical resuscitation skills training enhances healthcare providers' resuscitation performance in a resource-limited setting.

Objectives

The aims of this research will be achieved by meeting the following objectives:

1. Quantitative evaluation of study participants' resuscitation performance during a simulation scenario before ACLS course, immediately following ACLS course, immediately following VAST course, and at 4 months post training.
2. Qualitative exploration of the barriers and supports identified by course participants to implementing resuscitation in the workplace after resuscitation skills training through focus groups.

New knowledge Lessons learned from this study will help inform the design and the implementation of resuscitation training programs in resource-limited settings. This has potential to improve resuscitation capacity in resource-limited settings leading to higher quality of care for patients.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Education; Resuscitation; Global Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Advanced Cardiac Life Support Training; Behavioral: Vital Anesthesia Simulation Training

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 47
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Rwanda
  • Kigali, Rwanda
    • University of Rwanda

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Full course participation
• Available for focus group interviews

Exclusion Criteria:

• Refusal to provide informed consent
• Participated in VAST or ACLS training in the four months prior to study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: ACLS and then VAST teaching intervention; For each hospital, the intervention will be to pair a 2-day technical resuscitation skills training adapted from the ACLS/AHA and a 3-day VAST course for a multidisciplinary team of 20 participants (i.e., nurses, doctors, non-physician anesthesia providers). Participants' resuscitation skills will be tested at 4 time points: immediately before the ACLS course, immediately after the ACLS course, immediately after the VAST Course, and at 4 months post training.

Behavioral: Advanced Cardiac Life Support Training; Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) is a resuscitation course to teach recognition and treatment of cardiopulmonary arrest in patients.; Behavioral: Vital Anesthesia Simulation Training; The Vital Anesthesia Simulation Training (VAST) Course focuses on core clinical practices and non-technical skills needed to respond to the most common urgent and emergent clinical challenges found in hospitals in resource-limited settings like Rwanda.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time to initiation of CPR	The time it takes for the team to start chest compressions in the simulation in seconds	From start of simulation scenario to time of first chest compressions, assessment up to 2 minutes of simulation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time to epinephrine administration	The time it takes for the team to give epinephrine in the simulation in seconds	From start of simulation scenario to time of first epinephrine administration, assessment up to 5 minutes of simulation
Time to defibrillation	The time it takes for the team to defibrillate in the simulation in seconds	From start of simulation scenario to time of first defibrillation, assessment up to 5 minutes of simulation

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Toronto
• Collaborators: University of Rwanda; ANZCA Health Equity Project
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Teresa Skelton, MD, FRCPC, University of Toronto

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 28, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 9, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): March 14, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 17, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 13, 2022
• Last Verified: November 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Central Nervous System Depressants; Anesthetics
• Other Study ID Numbers: TSkelton

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Final results will be prepared for publication but no plan to share IPD

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No