Peer-assisted learning to train high-school students to perform basic life-support

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training is crucial for basic life support (BLS).
• Traditional CPR education relies on certified instructors, which may limit accessibility for some students.
• Peer-assisted learning (PAL) offers a potential alternative for CPR and BLS training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the educational efficacy of PAL for training high school students in BLS.
• To compare PAL with traditional instruction in terms of willingness to perform bystander CPR and knowledge retention.

Main Methods:

• 187 high school students were divided into a control group (traditional BLS training) and a PAL group (CPR training led by peers).
• Training duration was 1 hour for both groups.
• Assessments of willingness to perform CPR and BLS knowledge retention were conducted 3 months post-training.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant difference was found in willingness to perform bystander CPR between the PAL group (64.7%) and the control group (55.2%).
• Knowledge retention of BLS services was also comparable between the PAL group (61.76±17.80) and the control group (60.78±39.77).

Conclusions:

• Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is as effective as traditional methods for educating high school students in basic life support (BLS).
• PAL does not significantly increase willingness to perform bystander CPR or improve knowledge retention compared to traditional training.