• Sylvain Boet, Richard Waldolf, Chilombo Bould, Sandy Lam, Joseph K Burns, Stéphane Moffett, Graeme McBride, Tim Ramsay, and M Dylan Bould.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M2, Canada. sboet@toh.ca.
• CJEM. 2022 Jun 1; 24 (4): 408-418.

PurposeRetention of skills and knowledge has been shown to be poor after resuscitation training. The effect of a "booster" is controversial and may depend on its timing. We compared the effectiveness of an early versus late booster session after Basic Life Support (BLS) training for skill retention at 4 months.MethodsWe performed a single-blind randomized controlled trial in a simulation environment. Eligible participants were adult laypeople with no BLS training or practice in the 6 months prior to the study. We provided participants with formal BLS training followed by an immediate BLS skills post-test. We then randomized participants to one of three groups: control, early booster, or late booster. Based on their group allocation, participants attended a brief BLS refresher at either 3 weeks after training (early booster), at 2 months after training (late booster), or not at all (control). All participants underwent a BLS skills retention test at 4 months. We measured BLS skill performance according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation's skills testing checklist for adult CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator.ResultsA total of 80 laypeople were included in the analysis (control group, n = 28; early booster group, n = 23; late booster group, n = 29). The late booster group achieved better skill retention (mean difference in checklist score at retention compared to the immediate post-test = - 0.8 points out of 15, [95% CI - 1.7, 0.2], P = 0.10) compared to the early booster (- 1.3, [- 2.6, 0.0], P = 0.046) and control group (- 3.2, [- 4.7, - 1.8], P < 0.001).ConclusionA late booster session improves BLS skill retention at 4 months in laypeople.Trial Registration NumberNCT02998723.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)/ Association Canadienne de Médecine d'Urgence (ACMU).

11 keywords...

hide…