Introduction

CLC is an important skill for CPR leadership, aiding in reducing miscommunication and recommended by RECOVER guidelines. In the authors’ experience, CLC is difficult to teach. Human medical studies report CLCs increased when the lead resuscitator was blindfolded during training. To the authors’ knowledge there are no studies examining CLC in veterinary CPR training. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of blindfolding during veterinary CPR training on frequency of CLC.

Methods

Single center, prospective, randomized pilot study. Forty volunteers were recruited from a veterinary referral hospital clinical staff (veterinary surgeons, qualified and student nurses, nursing assistants, physiotherapists) and randomly allocated into ten teams. Exclusion criteria were: CPR practical training within previous 6 months; permanent members of Emergency and Critical Care team.

Each team was randomized as control (CG, N=4) or blindfolded (BG, N=6) and underwent 4 consecutive standardized CPR scenarios (S1–4). The leader role was randomly assigned to a veterinary surgeon in each team and remained consistent throughout scenarios. S1, S2 and S4 were run identically for both groups: S1 was for acclimatization, while S2 and S4 were respectively pre- and post-intervention. During S3, the intervention, BG team leaders were blindfolded. Volunteers were unaware of study aims and methodology. All scenarios were filmed, but only S2 and S4 reviewed for data analysis, performed by an author blinded to group allocation. Primary outcome was number of complete CLCs. Data are presented as median (min–max range).

Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare outcome measures between groups.

Results

Pre-intervention complete CLCs were 5 (3–6) (CG) and 5.5 (2–10) (BG). Post-intervention was 6.5 (2–9) (CG) and 9.5 (8–12) (BG). No significant difference was identified between groups pre-intervention (S2, p=0.76), but a significant difference in the number of complete CLCs was seen after intervention (S4, p=0.03).

Conclusion

Blindfolding lead resuscitators in veterinary CPR training does increase short-term CLCs. Future training may benefit from including this approach to increase CLCs and potentially improve patient safety. Further studies would be required to investigate whether this finding is replicated and also retained in the long-term.

E-mail: owalesby@gmail.com