Retention into internship of resuscitation skills learned in a medical student resuscitation program incorporating an Immediate Life Support course

AimsThis study describes the acquisition and retention of resuscitation skills by medical students during and following a vertically integrated training program incorporating an Immediate Life Support course (ILS): and the skills demonstrated by interns on entry to clinical practice.MethodsYearly resuscitation workshops were held in the final 3 years of a 6-year undergraduate medical curriculum. These consisted of a basic life support course in year 4; a resuscitation workshop including shock-advisory defibrillation in year 5; and an ILS course in year 6. A medical student cohort was tested during the course and at the beginning of internship.ResultsBefore year 5 training, an average of 36.6% of students passed each criterion and this increased to 72.3% 10 weeks after training. Prior to the ILS course (approximately 6-18 months following year 5 training), this proportion had decreased to 35.2%; and on retesting as interns the proportion was 64.1%, with delay between ILS training and testing of between 3 and 9 months. The proportion of interns correctly performing airway opening, initial rescue breathing and ventilation technique was lower than other measured skills. Those with ILS training performed better in initial rescue breaths (p = 0.03), ventilation technique (p = 0.04), and recommencement of CPR without delay following defibrillation (p = 0.02).ConclusionsA vertically integrated undergraduate resuscitation course appears to reinforce the maintenance of resuscitation skills until internship. Skills are maintained for at least 6-9 months following an ILS course. This may be due to the ILS course embedding the skills more thoroughly.