Undergraduate cardiac arrest team training

Background and objectives : Health profession students are traditionally educated within their discipline with little to no interaction with other health professionals, but are expected to function as integral members of the health care team after graduation. Health profession educators must bridge this disconnect by providing inter-professional learning experiences for students. We sought to evaluate the impact of interdisciplinary team-based (ITB) versus individual discipline-based (DB) learning with multiple health care disciplines during a simulated cardiac arrest. Methods : We performed a randomised trial with trainees from radiologic science (RS), physician assistant (PA) and nursing programmes (RN), taught by ITB and DB methods. Teams assessed a simulated patient experiencing a cardiac arrest before and after being educated using the First 5 Minutes (R) Curriculum (First-5). Knowledge and subjective evaluations were collected on each participant both before and after the educational intervention. The data were analysed using generalised estimating equations to account for correlated data. Results : We enrolled 29 subjects: 15 ITB (4 PA, 5 RN, 6 RS) and 14 DB (3 PA, 5 RN, 6 RS). Knowledge improved more in the ITB group than in the DB group: with a median change of 2 (IQR 0-2) versus 1 (IQR 0-2), respectively (p = 0.014). Subjectively, participants overwhelmingly responded that working and learning with other disciplines was a valuable experience, and that more opportunities for interdisciplinary learning should be integrated into the curriculum. Discussion : In our pilot study using a simulated model and the First-5, ITB education appears to improve trainees' knowledge over DB education, and was subjectively preferred by the learner.