Ten years of Basic Life Support provider course: results and challenges from the Italian Resuscitation Council’s experience

Abstract

Introduction

Widespread basic life support (BLS) training plays a central role in improving cardiac arrest (CA) survival. This study presents an extensive analysis of numbers, candidates’ characteristics, and outcomes over 10 years of BLS provider courses organized by the Italian Resuscitation Council (IRC) in Italy.

Method

This is a retrospective analysis of data recorded in the national IRC BLS training database from January 2014 to December 2023. Candidates’ demographic and professional factors were analyzed with regional differences and course outcomes.

Results

Over the study period, a total 906,686 candidates attended the course, 646,743 (71.3%) of whom were healthcare professionals (HP) and 259,943 (28.8%) non-healthcare professionals (NHP). The percentage of candidates passing the final exam was 99.5% for HP and 99.8% for NHP. The rate per 1000 HP per year of physicians and nurses attending the BLS course varied considerably across the Italian regions, ranging from 4.2 in central Italy to 669.7 in some northern areas. The rate per 1000 inhabitants of NHP per year attending the BLS course was also different among regions, varying from 0.1 in the southern and central regions up to 1.7 in the northern and northeastern ones.

Conclusion

The pass rate of the BLS provider course is overall very high, indicating that it provides an easy and accessible set of skills for both HP and NHP candidates. Regional disparities (e.g. the rates of trained individuals and distribution between HP and NHP) and the low attendance of retraining courses represent important challenges that need to be addressed. Analysing training registers is a valuable tool for better planning future training projects.