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Cumming School of Medicine

Distributed practice for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training: improving educational efficiency and cost-effectiveness in clinical settings

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Cardiac arrest is a major health problem; high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one of the most important determinants of survival and survival with good neurological outcomes of the victims. Despite annual training, healthcare providers struggle to conduct guideline compliant CPR during the management of cardiac arrests. Increased likelihood of survival from cardiac arrest depends upon the integration of medical science, educational efficiency and local implementation (of science and education). There is some evidence to suggest that the use of distributed practice (i.e. separating the training into small portions dispersed over time) and real-time feedback (on compression depth, rate, and recoil) can improve CPR quality in healthcare providers and medical trainees. The aim of this research is to explore the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of distributed CPR training with real-time feedback relative to current CPR training practices. To accomplish this, the following work was completed: (1) designing a randomized trial to compare a new CPR training program incorporating workplace-based distributed CPR practice and real-time feedback with a group receiving conventional Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) Basic Life Support (BLS) course; (2) describing the key components of, and approaches to economic evaluation in the context of simulation-based medical education; and (3) exploring the cost-effectiveness of distributed training program relative to conventional training to inform the decision whether or not to adopt the new CPR training program. This research shows that (1) workplace-based distributed CPR training significantly improves the acquisition and retention of CPR skills in practicing acute care providers and (2) this training method results in decreased training costs and increased learning outcomes in our local context. This research provides evidence to support the educational efficiency of distributed CPR training and informs the decision on implementation of this educational strategy by addressing the cost-effectiveness. Importantly, this research is the first study that comparing distributed CPR training with conventional training and longitudinally analyzing the CPR performance to address skill retention. Furthermore, this research represents the first economic evaluation studies in resuscitation training.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Medicine – Community Health Sciences
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
Cumming School of Medicine
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Lin, Yiqun
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Hecker, Kent
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Cheng, Adam
  • Grant, Vincent J.
  • Currie, Gillian R.

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/110166

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Calgary
Base URL
ucalgary.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Lin, Yiqun. Distributed practice for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training: improving educational efficiency and cost-effectiveness in clinical settings. Cumming School of Medicine, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110166