Impact of a short training on the recognition of excessively deep chest compressions during video-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a randomized controlled simulation trial.

INTRODUCTION

The early commencement of effective resuscitation is of fundamental importance for the survival of individuals experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. In such circumstances, video-assisted guidance by the dispatcher has been demonstrated to be advantageous for the recognition of cardiac arrest and the improvement of CPR quality. The present study investigates the effectiveness of a brief training program for control center dispatchers in the recognition of common errors during simulated resuscitation.

METHODS

The study was approved by the local ethics committee and registered at the German Clinical Trial Register on 27th of February 2024 (Registration number: DRKS00032661) prior to inclusion of the first participant. Within a two-armed group study design, paramedics and emergency physicians were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 44) or a control group (n = 44). The experimental group was initially exposed to a targeted brief training aimed at enhancing the recognition of excessively deep chest compression depth. All participants evaluated 42 distinct video sequences showing seven typical errors during CPR. The shown CPRs were simulated on a training manikin and the videos were evaluated by the participants under laboratory conditions. The primary endpoint was the accurate evaluation of the presented videos with too deep compression depth in a laboratory setting.

RESULTS

A total of 3696 video sequences were evaluated. The experimental group demonstrated a significantly higher recognition rate for too deep chest compressions compared to the control group (87.9% vs. 59.2%, p < 0.001). With regard to the remaining errors, no significant differences were observed between the study groups. Overall, 2861 of the 3696 videos (77.7%) were correctly classified. The proportion of correctly classified videos was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group (79.8% vs. 75.6%, p = 0.003), indicating a statistically significant effect of the intervention.

CONCLUSION

The identification of chest compressions with too deep compression depth in a video of simulated CPR was found to increase significantly in evaluators who had undergone a brief training course.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The trial was registered in the German Clinical Trial Register "BfArM - Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien (DRKS)" under the registration number DRKS00032661.