title: Evaluation of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation curriculum in a low resource environment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether a 2-day International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Universal Algorithm-based curriculum taught in a tertiary care hospital in Liberia increases local health care provider knowledge and skill comfort level.
  
  
  METHODS
  A combined basic and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) curriculum was developed for low-resource settings that included lectures and low-fidelity manikin-based simulations. In March 2014, the curriculum was taught to healthcare providers in a tertiary care hospital in Liberia. In a quality assurance review, participants were evaluated for knowledge and comfort levels with resuscitation before and after the workshop. They were also videotaped during simulation sessions and evaluated on standardized performance metrics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-two hospital staff completed both pre-and post-curriculum surveys. The median score was 45% pre-curriculum and 82% post-curriculum (p<0.00001). The median provider comfort level score was 4 of 5 pre-curriculum and 5 of 5 post-curriculum (p<0.00001). During simulations, 93.2% of participants performed the pulse check within 10 seconds, and 97.7% performed defibrillation within 180 seconds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinician knowledge of and comfort level with CPR increased significantly after participating in our curriculum. A CPR curriculum based on lectures and low-fidelity manikin simulations may be an effective way to teach resuscitation in this low-resource setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Mary P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology/Pediatric Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Camila B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lyon
authors.affiliation: University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Janiszewski
authors.affiliation: Office of Emergency Training, Response, and Evaluation, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aksamit
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Monrovia, Liberia.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kateh
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sampson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006295:Health Resources; D006801:Humans; D007988:Liberia; D008297:Male; D008348:Manikins; D008875:Middle Aged; D000066908:Simulation Training; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: CPR; Liberia; low-resource environment; medical education