Impact of Online AHA Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED Course Amongst Non-medical Post Graduate Students

Abstract

Aim: To understand the impact of online AHA Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED course training amongst non-medical students in Pune, India Introduction: Global statistics reveal, the mortality rate due to road traffic accidents is as high as 1.2 million per year. Numerous studies have shown that the society at large is in urgent need of more skilled in the form of first aid responder. This goal can be fulfilled and achieved by enhancing the number of first responders within our society. With the advent of Covid-19 pandemic, opportunities for face-to-face training have significantly deprived critical knowledge sharing to the general population. The pandemic is long drawn and has forced us to devise novel methods of knowledge delivery to ensure that crucial aspects of First Aid and Emergency Care are taught to the general population. The present study aims to understand the impact of online AHA Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED course training amongst non-medical students in Pune, India. Objective: To study the impact of online AHA – Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED course among non-medical students in Pune, India. Methodology: The knowledge retention study was conducted amongst 250 Post Graduate Management students based in Pune. In order to assess the true impact of the AHA - Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED online training, only those students who had not undergone any previous, formal training in First Aid and CPR concepts were chosen for the study. The baseline knowledge of the respondents was assessed with a pre-designed 30 item and pre-validated 30 item Multiple Choice Questionnaire provided by the American Heart Association. Conclusion: E-learning is the way forward and it allows training of a large group of individuals in a singular event. This can help propagate first aid training to the masses. The study findings are encouraging in terms of improvement in the knowledge scores immediately after a single online training session. Although the knowledge tends to diminish after a period of eight weeks.