title: Performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation during prolonged basic life support in military medical university students: A manikin study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The quality of chest compressions can be significantly improved after training of rescuers according to the latest national guidelines of China. However, rescuers may be unable to maintain adequate compression or ventilation throughout a response of average emergency medical services because of increased rescuer fatigue. In the present study, we evaluated the performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in training of military medical university students during a prolonged basic life support (BLS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A 3-hour BLS training was given to 120 military medical university students. Six months after the training, 115 students performed single rescuer BLS on a manikin for 8 minutes. The qualities of chest compressions as well as ventilations were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average compression depth and rate were 53.7±5.3 mm and 135.1±15.7 compressions per minute respectively. The proportion of chest compressions with appropriate depth was 71.7%±28.4%. The average ventilation volume was 847.2±260.4 mL and the proportion of students with adequate ventilation was 63.5%. Compared with male students, significantly lower compression depth (46.7±4.8 vs. 54.6±4.8 mm, P<0.001) and adequate compression rate (35.5%±26.5% vs. 76.1%±25.1%, P<0.001) were observed in female students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CPR was found to be related to gender, body weight, and body mass index of students in this study. The quality of chest compressions was well maintained in male students during 8 minutes of conventional CPR but declined rapidly in female students after 2 minutes according to the latest national guidelines. Physical fitness and rescuer fatigue did not affect the quality of ventilation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China ; Medical Training Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Chao-Nan
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Shun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Lin
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Basic life support; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Chest compression; Military; Ventilation