The effectiveness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation instruction: Animation versus dispatcher through a cellular phone

Introduction: We developed a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instruction programme using motion capture animation integrated into cellular phones. We compared the effectiveness of animation-assisted CPR instruction with dispatcher-assisted instruction in participants with no previous CPR training. Methods: This study was a single blind cluster randomized trial. Participants were allocated to either animation-assisted CPR (AA-CPR; 8 clusters, 44 participants) group or dispatcher-assisted CPR (DA-CPR; 8 clusters, 41 participants). The overall performance and time of each step of CPR cycle were recorded on a checklist by 3 assessors. The objective performances were evaluated using the Resusci (R) Anne SkillReporter (TM) Manikin. Differences between the groups were compared using an independent t-test adjusted for the effect of clustering. Results: The AA-CPR group had a significantly better checklist score (p<0.001) and time to completion of 1 CPR cycle (p < 0.001) than the DA-CPR group. In an objective assessment of psychomotor skill, the AA-CPR group demonstrated more accurate hand positioning (68.8 +/- 3.6%, p = 0.033) and compression rate (72.4 +/- 3.7%, p = 0.015) than DA-CPR group. However, the accuracy of compression depth (p=0.400), ventilation volume (p=0.977) and flow rate (p=0.627) were below 30% in both groups. Conclusion: Audiovisual animated CPR instruction through a cellular phone resulted in better scores in checklist assessment and time interval compliance in participants without CPR skill compared to those who received CPR instructions from a dispatcher; however, the accuracy of important psychomotor skit[ measures was unsatisfactory in both groups. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.