title: Evaluation of advanced cardiac life support written examinations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the quality of 2 advanced cardiac life support written examinations and the relationship between demographic variables and test performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive.
  
  
  METHODS
  Advanced cardiac life support courses held at 4 midwestern hospitals, one outpatient surgery center, and one community college.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nonprobability sample of 367 participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two versions of the American Heart Association advanced cardiac life support written examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reliability coefficients of test A and test B were 0.45 and 0.54, respectively. Discrimination and difficulty indices calculated on both tests revealed that test B questions were more difficult, with better discriminators. Prior experience, sex of participant, and profession were identified as factors influencing test performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although test B surpassed the performance of test A, both examinations were problematic. Additional investigation and refinement of the advanced cardiac life support tests are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Spectrum Health and Health Education Associates, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Braunohler
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education*; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States