Retention of Pediatric XXXX (PALS) course concepts.

@entity1 @entity1442 @entity4806
The purpose of this study was to measure, in a population of experienced state-certified paramedics, the decline of Pediatric @entity1442 (PALS) course concepts during the 2-year recertification cycle recommended by the American Heart Association. The PALS course contains a written examination designed to measure understanding of course concepts. To successfully complete the course, a PALS course @entity1 must achieve a minimum grade of 84% on this test. In our study, 99 experienced PALS-certified @entity1442 ( @entity1442 ) providers completed a 70-question written test. Nested within this test were all of the PALS examination questions that the @entity1 had previously passed to complete the PALS course. Each @entity1 's PALS test questions were extracted and scored to obtain a "retest score" that measured retention of PALS course principles. These 99 dual-trained paramedic/firefighters comprised more than 90% of the staff of a countywide EMS system averaging 60,000 calls per year. Study @entity1 averaged 10 years of @entity1442 experience, and 3-4 @entity4806 @entity1 calls per month. In this study, " @entity4806 @entity1 " was defined as an individual 18 years of age or less. Results revealed that 25 (25%) of the 99 providers achieved a minimum passing score of 84% or greater on the PALS retest. Another 40 (40%) scored within one standard deviation below the minimum passing score. Retest score was unaffected by years of @entity1442 experience, number of @entity4806 @entity1 seen per month, or by PALS Instructor status. The average retest score was 16 points lower than the original test score. The original test score did not reliably predict a passing grade on the retest. We conclude that the average decline of PALS course principles is such that a 2-year retraining schedule is appropriate for prehospital personnel caring for an average of three to four @entity4806 @entity1 per month.
