Skill decay following Basic Life Support training: a systematic review protocol.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the UK lag behind other developed nations.
• Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) significantly improves OHCA survival to hospital discharge.
• UK government initiatives, including national curriculum Basic Life Support (BLS) training, aim to increase bystander CPR rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review existing literature on skill decay following BLS training.
• To identify the timeframe over which BLS skills degrade.
• To determine which components of the BLS algorithm are most affected by skill decay.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search for studies assessing BLS skills post-training.
• Independent review of titles, abstracts, and full texts by two reviewers.
• Data extraction and potential meta-analysis, if study heterogeneity permits.

Main Results:

• Evidence suggests a significant decline in BLS skill retention over time.
• Specific components of the BLS algorithm demonstrate differential rates of decay.
• The exact time course and most affected skills require further detailed analysis.

Conclusions:

• Poor retention of BLS skills poses a challenge to improving bystander CPR effectiveness.
• Understanding skill decay patterns is crucial for optimizing BLS training and refresher programs.
• Further research is needed to establish optimal retraining intervals and methods.