Crash Course: Shorter Is Better in CPR Training

March 9, 2011— -- The days of the hours-long office CPR training session may be numbered if the findings of a new study hold true.

A 60-second training video may be all it takes to save a life, researchers found in a new study funded by the American Heart Association. Study participants who viewed a one-minute CPR instructional video were more likely to attempt CPR and perform a higher quality of CPR than those who did not watch the video.

More surprising was that the group who watched the one-minute training video performed better and made better decisions than those who watched a five- or eight-minute version, suggesting that less may be more when it comes to teaching CPR basics.

Dr. Gabe Wilson, associate medical director in the department of emergency medicine at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York, said that when information is boiled down to a few clear points, people have much better recall and interest.

"When you know you are going to be provided with important information, and only need to pay attention for 60 seconds, the chances of engaging attention is much greater," said Wilson.

Wilson, who was not involved in the study, said that 60 seconds is enough time to cover the basic fundamentals of CPR.

"CPR is just not that difficult," he said.

"We're really excited about this," said Dr. Bentley J. Bobrow, lead author of the study, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Qualities and Outcomes, and clinical associate professor in the department of emergency medicine at the Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix."Survival is really low for sudden cardiac arrest, and it's not drugs or fancy expensive devices or hospital care that helps save the most lives. It's CPR.

"But so few people receive CPR. It's really a tragedy and lost opportunity."

According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States. About 300,000 people experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States each year, and their chance of survival declines 7 percent to 10 percent with each minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation.

"Only one-quarter of cardiac arrest is treated with CPR," said Dr. Benjamin Abella, clinical research director for the Center for Resuscitation Science at University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the study. "So you have people waiting for the paramedics, which can take five, six or seven minutes. And every minute is making a huge difference on the outcome. With every minute waiting, mortality skyrockets.

"If we can get people to do CPR, it will open up a whole new vista," he said.