Background: In-hospital cardiac arrest is a global public health problem, accounting for up to ten events per 1,000 hospital admissions every year. Advanced life support training is used worldwide to educate healthcare professionals in how to prevent and treat cardiac arrest. Stakeholders have challenged the amount of time and associated costs needed for this vital educational intervention.
Aim: To develop a new blended learning approach to advanced life support education for healthcare professionals to meet stakeholders’ needs and evaluate whether this new approach is equivalent in terms of educational outcomes compared to the conventional instructor led approach.
Methods: Multi-methods were used to pilot, evaluate, improve and re-evaluate the Resuscitation Council (UK) e-ALS course.
Results: This research programme consisted of five publications. Findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis (Paper 1) showed a positive association between participation of healthcare professionals in an accredited advanced life support course and improved patient outcomes. An openlabel non-inferiority randomised trial (Paper 2) was inconclusive in determining whether the e-ALS course produced educational outcomes equivalent to those of conventional instructor-led training. In parallel with this, a multi-methods study (Paper 3) concluded that participant satisfaction was mixed. These findings were used to inform the improvement of the e-ALS course. A descriptive analysis of 27,170 course participants (paper 4) showed that the revised version now demonstrated equivalent educational outcomes in comparison with the conventional course. Finally, an additional descriptive analysis (Paper 5) showed that younger participants, those with prior experience of a life support course, or those from a relevant clinical background were more likely to have a successful course outcome for e-ALS.
Conclusion: Advanced life support training results in improved patient survival and a blended learning approach (e-ALS course) delivers equivalent educational outcomes to the conventional ALS course, but with half of the required face-to-face time and cost.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
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