• Priti Jani, Angela D Blood, Yoon Soo Park, Kuan Xing, and Diana Mitchell.
• Rush Medical College, Rush University.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2021 Oct 1; 37 (10): e645e652e645-e652.

IntroductionResuscitation skills decay as early as 4 months after course acquisition. Gaps in research remain regarding ideal educational modalities, timing, and frequency of curricula required to optimize skills retention. Our objective was to evaluate the impact on retention of resuscitation skills 8 months after the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course when reinforced by an adjunct simulation-based curriculum 4 months after PALS certification. We hypothesized there would be improved retention in the intervention group.MethodsThis is a partial, double-blind, randomized controlled study. First-year pediatric residents were randomized to an intervention or control group. The intervention group participated in a simulation-based curriculum grounded in principles of deliberate practice and debriefing. The control group received no intervention. T-tests were used to compare mean percent scores (M) from simulation-based assessments and multiple-choice tests immediately following the PALS course and after 8 months.ResultsIntervention group (n = 12) had overall improved retention of resuscitation skills at 8 months when compared with the control group (n = 12) (mean, 0.57 ± 0.05 vs 0.52 ± 0.06; P = 0.037). No significant difference existed between individual skills stations. The intervention group had greater retention of cognitive knowledge (mean, 0.78 ± 0.09 vs 0.68 ± 0.14; P = 0.049). Residents performed 61% of assessment items correctly immediately following the PALS course.ConclusionsResuscitation skills acquisition from the PALS course and retention are suboptimal. These findings support the use of simulation-based curricula as course adjuncts to extend retention beyond 4 months.Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 keywords...

hide…