The Effects of Scenario-Based Face-to-Face and Virtual Training on Advanced Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Skills in Nurses

Concerning the pivotal role that nurses play in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of patients with cardiac arrest, this study compares the effect of face-to-face and virtual scenario-based training of CPR procedures on CPR skills of nurses at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Arak in 2022. An educational trial was conducted on nurses who met the inclusion criteria and they were selected and randomly allocated to two groups with 35 nurses in each. The advanced CPR skills of nurses before and after the training sessions were assessed using the standardized checklist for CPR quality control. The advanced CPR skills of nurses were again assessed using the same checklist one month after the training sessions. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in IBM SPSS Statistics. Mean age in the virtual scenario-based training group  and face-to-face scenario-based training group  were 37.94 ± 6.25 years and 39.71 ± 7.27 years, respectively. There was no significant difference in terms of the various domains of CPR skills in the checklist between the two groups immediately after training (p = 0.833) and one month after the end of the training sessions (p = 0.612). Scenario-based educational intervention upgrades the CPR knowledge and skills of nurses. Both face-to-face and virtual scenario-based training sessions exert the same effect on the advanced CPR skills of nurses. Thus, these findings spotlight the need for implementing constant training programs and defining a criterion to identify the patient's clinical condition (scenario) and to motivate nurses to define the current problem.