Health and Safety Services Instructor Resources Library

The Health and Safety Services Instructor Resources Library is your first stop for all downloadable Health and Safety Instructor (and Instructor Trainer**) resources. From email-able course records, addendums, and activity reports to instructor outlines, we've got you covered! More downloads will be posted here as they become available, so be sure to check back often!

**Instructor Trainer section is password-protected, and only for the use of American Red Cross of Central Florida Instructor Trainers.


Instructor Resources Library

American Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED Materials Clarifications and Corrections

The following provides clarifications and corrections for the First Aid/CPR/AED Program Instructor's Manual. All replacement pages, except exam pages, are available for download below. These can be printed from your browser and inserted into already purchased materials. Instructors will need to contact their local chapters to obtain exam replacement pages. All clarifications and corrections listed below have been incorporated into the latest version of the instructor's manual. If you have any questions about these updates, please contact Greg Stockton at (703) 206-7419 or stocktong@usa.redcross.org.

FIRST AID/CPR/AED PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL CLARIFICATIONS

The following are replacement pages for clarifications made to the First Aid/CPR/AED Program Instructor's Manual that resulted in improved language and clarified concepts. These clarifications are designed to assist instructors with special circumstances surrounding specific concepts.

FIRST AID/CPR/AED PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL CORRECTIONS

CPR Motivation and Skill Retention: Evidence to Support One-Year Certification

The American Red Cross recommends annual re-certification in CPR skills training. However, among organizations that teach CPR to lay rescuers, there is little consensus about how often skills training is needed. The Red Cross national headquarters staff in Health Safety and Community Services reviewed 24 research studies on the retention of CPR skills and motivational preparedness; Red Cross conducted six of these studies and the remaining 18 were drawn from published peer reviewed journals.

All the research that we have examined points to a single conclusion: data does not support a universal recommendation for a lay rescuer two-year certification.

Even though the 24 studies used different methods, measures and populations, there was collective agreement that there is no evidence to support the claim that CPR skills are retained for two years. Many studies point to the need for a program of on-going periodic education, reviews and skill practice sessions.

Red Cross Studies on Motivation to Respond

Red Cross Headquarters staff have completed six studies that investigated the effects of CPR education on motivation to respond in an emergency. Unlike the published research, we applied a theory based behavioral model, moving the study of CPR education beyond a simple assessment of skill. All studies used a pre/post survey methodology.

Through examination of pre-scores by amount of education, we can conclude that, response readiness declined less over time as participants gained course experience. Several implications follow

* Participants taking the course for re-certification retained motivation to respond in an emergency. Nevertheless, readiness had declined over time; none of the pre-measures were at post-course levels. This is consistent with published findings of CPR skill decay
* Readiness declined less over time as participants gained course experience.
* Education eliminated differences in motivation and readiness; all respondents left the course in a highly motivated state.

These data suggest that everyone can benefit from CPR education regardless of their experience with such education in the past, reinforcing the need to update CPR skills with regular training over ones lifetime.

Published Findings on Skill Retention

We identified 18 studies in the professional literature that looked at CPR skill retention:

* Seven studies targeted lay participants
* Four used physicians and nurses
* Three were literature reviews
* Four were methodologically weaker (for our immediate purpose)

Despite the wide variety of methods, populations and criteria for success, all 18 studies reached the same basic conclusion: there is no evidence to support the claim that CPR skills are retained for two years. In fact, some studies question the legitimacy of the one-year certification.

Two caveats are in order. First, studies that looked at physicians and nurses should not be used to draw broad conclusions about professional rescuers or medical professionals in general. We have no reason to believe these subjects were more likely to perform CPR than the general public.

Second, the criteria used to assess knowledge and skills varied from study to study. In fact, some researchers may even hold students to the highest medical standards when assessing post course retention. While such practices have scientific value, they may lack practical application. In all likelihood, there is probably a lower but "good enough" standard for skill assessment. Because there is no commonly accepted standard for measuring learning outcomes across studies, direct comparisons between studies should be avoided.