The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills of 70 student nurses in a Southern Nursing College. By identifying the most frequent mistakes made by the students, this study aimed to improve the teaching strategies of CPR skills. The 13 evaluating items were quoted from the guidelines of American Heart Association (AHA). The performance of students were tested on a digital resuscitation manikin and evaluated at the first, the second and the forth weeks in their practical training in the emergency room. The results showed that no student could accomplish all items after the first week. Only one student could complete all items after the second week. In the forth week, 8 student nurses passed all assessments. The success rates of ”check responsiveness” and ”call for help” reached over 80%, while the rest of the test items were below 60% in the first test. The success rates of all items were significantly improved after the second week except the ”correct compression depth” (McNemar test, (The symbol is abbreviated)<.05). Moreover, the success rates of all items in the third test were significantly improved as compared with the first test ((The symbol is abbreviated)<.05). However, the success rates of more than half of the test items were still below 80%. The success rates of ”check pulse”, ”correct compression depth”, and ”every inflation to produce visible lifting of the chest” ranged only 54% to 57%. In conclusion, the ”chest compression” was a biggest obstacle to CPR learning with only 54% success rate after 4 weeks.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills of 70 student nurses in a Southern Nursing College. By identifying the most frequent mistakes made by the students, this study aimed to improve the teaching strategies of CPR skills. The 13 evaluating items were quoted from the guidelines of American Heart Association (AHA). The performance of students were tested on a digital resuscitation manikin and evaluated at the first, the second and the forth weeks in their practical training in the emergency room. The results showed that no student could accomplish all items after the first week. Only one student could complete all items after the second week. In the forth week, 8 student nurses passed all assessments. The success rates of ”check responsiveness” and ”call for help” reached over 80%, while the rest of the test items were below 60% in the first test. The success rates of all items were significantly improved after the second week except the ”correct compression depth” (McNemar test, (The symbol is abbreviated)<.05). Moreover, the success rates of all items in the third test were significantly improved as compared with the first test ((The symbol is abbreviated)<.05). However, the success rates of more than half of the test items were still below 80%. The success rates of ”check pulse”, ”correct compression depth”, and ”every inflation to produce visible lifting of the chest” ranged only 54% to 57%. In conclusion, the ”chest compression” was a biggest obstacle to CPR learning with only 54% success rate after 4 weeks.