• Catherine Patocka, Farooq Khan, Alexander Sasha Dubrovsky, Danny Brody, Ilana Bank, and Farhan Bhanji.
• Royal College Emergency Medicine Residency Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; McGill Centre for Medical Education, Montreal, QC, Canada; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, Calgary, AB, Canada. Electronic address: catherine.patocka@gmail.com.
• Resuscitation. 2015 Mar 1; 88: 6-11.

AimHealthcare providers demonstrate limited retention of knowledge and skills in the months following completion of a resuscitation course. Resuscitation courses are typically taught in a massed format (over 1-2 days) however studies in education psychology have suggested that spacing training may result in improved learning and retention. Our study explored the impact of spaced instruction compared to traditional massed instruction on learner knowledge and pediatric resuscitation skills.MethodsMedical students completed a pediatric resuscitation course in either a spaced or massed format. Four weeks following course completion students completed a knowledge exam and blinded observers used expert-developed checklists to assess student performance of three skills (bag-valve mask ventilation (BVMV), intra-osseous insertion (IOI) and chest compressions (CC)).ResultsForty-five out of 48 students completed the study protocol. Students in both groups had similar scores on the knowledge exam spaced: (37.8±6.1) vs. massed (34.3±7.6)(p<0.09) and overall global rating scale scores for IOI, BVMV and CC; however students in the spaced group also performed critical procedural elements more frequently than those in the massed training groupConclusionLearner knowledge and performance of procedural skills in pediatric resuscitation taught in a spaced format is at least as good as learning in a massed format. Procedures learned in a spaced format may result in better retention of skills when compared to massed training.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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