Retention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills among nursing personnel: what makes the difference?

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' Position Statement on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification states that "nurses who care for the critically ill must have annual BCLS or CLS certification...." Review of literature, however, did not reveal any studies among nurses that examined the question of whether Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) was superior to other forms of CPR education, such as Basic Life Support-A (BLS-A) (Heartsaver). The purpose of this 2 by 3 factorial design study was to examine the relationship between the method of instruction and the quality of retention of one-person CPR skills at 4 and 8 months after the initial class. The two methods of instruction under consideration were a BLS-course A (hospital-wide Heartsaver course) and a BLS-course C (Basic Cardiac Life Support course). In addition, the variable of potential use of CPR skills was studied. The three levels of potential use (high, medium, low) were identified according to the area of work, such as critical care, general medical-surgical, and obstetrics-psychiatric, respectively. Other variables that were described in the literature were education, practice of skills, current position, years in profession, previous CPR training, motivation, and felt level of competence. These variables also were included in the study to find out the total variable impact on CPR retention. At least 30 registered nurses were selected from each of the high, medium, and low use areas and randomly assigned to one of the instruction groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)