A COMPARISON OF MULTIMEDIA AND STANDARD ADVANCED CARDIAC LIFE-SUPPORTLEARNING

Objectives: To compare student performance after Multimedia ACLS Learn ing System (MM) education compared with that after standard (ST) ACLS education. Methods: Final-year medical students were divided into 2 gr oups based on convenience scheduling and given ACLS instruction either in a standard format or with the MM course. The sizes of the small gr oups and the times in small-group instruction were identical. All stud ents were evaluated with the same 50-item multiple-choice written exam ination, a structured evaluation immediately after the management of a mock cardiac arrest, and a second structured evaluation of the same m ock arrest (videotaped) by an instructor blinded to the education meth od. Students were assigned a mark from 1 to 5 in each of 4 domains: as sessment, immediate priorities, continual assessment, and leadership. Results: 75 students took the MM and 38 took the ST course. The mean /- SD mark for the multiple-choice test was 89.3 +/- 4.9% (MM) vs 89.3 +/- 4.8% (ST); the onsite mock arrest evaluation mark (20 maximum) wa s 14.1 +/- 2.5 (MM) vs 14.1 +/- 2.0 (ST); and the blinded mock arrest evaluation was 13.1 +/- 2.9 (MM) vs 14.4 +/- 2.9 (ST) (p = 0.024). 1/7 5 (MM) vs 0/38 (ST) did not successfully complete the on-site mock arr est evaluation. More students in the MM group (46% vs 25%) required mu ltiple attempts to successfully complete the mock arrest evaluation (p < 0.02). Conclusion: In medical students with no previous ACLS traini ng, structured access to the multimedia ACLS Learning System provides immediate educational outcomes similar to those of a standard ACLS cou rse. Multimedia computer-interactive learning should be enhanced with a short period of hands-on practice.