Introduction: Basic life support (BLS) with external cardiac compressions and delivered breaths are the mainstay of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in people and animals. Frequent training of veterinarians and veterinary technicians has been advocated in the published veterinary CPR guidelines in order to improve outcomes in small animals.

Objectives: To assess skills and knowledge of technicians trained using two different style refresher courses in CPR-BLS.

Methods: This study evaluated two methods of refresher training courses of BLS amongst veterinary technicians in a veterinary teaching hospital: online self-instruction (OSI) and in-person training. Anesthesia and ICU veterinary technicians were randomized to receive OSI or in-person refresher courses every 4 months for one year. BLS performance was assessed at the end of study with an instrumented canine manikin evaluating compression depth and rate during a two minute CPR-BLS cycle. A questionnaire was given to participants to evaluate their knowledge and confidence in BLS before and after their training.

Results: Twenty-three veterinary technicians completed the study: 12 in the OSI group and 11 in the in-person group. There was no difference in CPR-BLS performance between the groups based on the total number of simulator alarms (compression rate and compression depth) during the 2 minute cycle (p=0.47). There was no difference in scores between the two groups, assessing their knowledge (p=0.92) and confidence level (p=0.68) before and after CPR-BLS training.

Discussion: In this group of technicians, no difference was seen between the two groups. Before making a wider recommendation regarding provision of CPR training, it would be important to follow people over a longer period than one year to ensure retention of psychomotor skills. Additionally, this group of anesthesia and ICU technicians were already skilled in CPR compared to the general population of veterinary hospital staff, so their ability to retain skills could be improved compared to less experienced personnel. Lastly, a high fidelity simulator would allow for a wider range of BLS performance measurements.

Conclusion: In this population of experienced technicians there appeared to be no difference in retention or performance between the groups receiving OSI or in-person instruction.