[Persistence of learning of the guide of basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the internship year]

The learning process of the basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation guide (CPR) requires the memorization and retention of huge loads of information. Also, the undergraduate physicians (UGP) frequently take part in cardiopulmonary resuscitation events that reinforce the learning. Our objective was to evaluate the UGP learning of CPR during the year of the internship.

UGP from three different generations attended a CPR course during their internship year. Their learning and retention was evaluated with the scores obtained from a validated questionnaire applied at the end of the course (M1) and then, after 6 (M2) and 12 months (M3). Each group was integrated with 31 UGP and was compared inside and between groups.

There was no statistical difference in the averages between the three groups during measurements: M1, M2, and M3. The average scores between M1 and M3, decreased to 28 % for group I, 32 % for group II and 31 % for group III, with p = 0.001 in the three groups.

The main determinant of learning was the a posteriori practices during cardiopulmonary resuscitation events and the application of the repetitions during the practice of the protocol of CPR.