Daniel Armstrong
Assessment Institute
Spring 2014
HE-110 Course Assessment Report
Introduction:
HE-110 Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is a free elective one credit course offered by
the Health, Physical Education, and Dance department. The department generally offers
between 18- 20 sections of HE-110 per semester. I coordinate the HE-110 course for the Health
and Physical Education Department and was scheduled to teach one section with 25 students
registered. The course is unique in that it takes place in two 7.5 hour sessions. Many students
register for this course because CPR certification is required for nursing, emergency medical
technician, medical office assistant, massage therapy, and many other programs. The goal of
the course is to provide students with basic life support knowledge and mastery of practical
cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. Students who successfully completed all requirements of
the course are eligible to receive BLS for the healthcare provider certification through the
American Heart Association.
This assessment project focused on the final practical skills examination which is
required for course completion. It used a scoring rubric to identify proficiency in 5 domains
emphasized throughout the course. Each domain corresponds to a student learning outcome
from the course syllabus.
This project will assess the areas of strength and weakness in HE-110 student’s
performance in a final patient scenario where they are expected to assess a patient suffering
from a life threatening emergency and react accordingly. The domains identified by the rubric
include assessment of the patient, compressions, artificial ventilations, AED use, and
communication. Each of the domains measured by the rubric corresponds to a student learning
outcome in the course syllabus.
General Education Objectives Applicable to HE-110
1. Communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening and speaking
2. Use analytical reasoning to identify issues or problems and evaluate evidence in order to make
informed decisions
7. Work collaboratively in diverse groups directed at accomplishing learning objectives
9. Employ concepts and methods of the natural and physical sciences to make informed judgments
Course objectives for HE-110 are listed in the table below.
HE-110 Course Objectives
Students will be able to recognize and react to the four major lifethreatening emergencies including heart attack, stroke, choking, and
sudden cardiac arrest.
Students will perform one and two rescuer CPR for an adult, child or
infant victim.
Students will integrate the automated external defibrillator into
resuscitations.
Students will perform compressions with adequate rate and depth.
Students will provide artificial ventilations using mouth to mouth, mouth
to face shield, mouth to mask, and a bag mask device.
Students will be able to assist an adult, child or infant victim of a foreign
body airway obstruction.
Students will recognize the signs and symptoms of major illness.
Students will define the cardiac chain of survival.
Students will effectively communicate with emergency response and
fellow rescuers to direct emergency care in a clear concise manner.
The general education objectives included in the course which are utilized in the project’s
assignment are shown in the table below.
Applicable General Education Objective
1,2,7,9
Student Learning Outcomes measured for
this project
Students will demonstrate single and
multiple rescuer CPR and AED use on a mock
patient.
The Domains of the scoring rubric as they correspond to the course objectives and student
learning outcomes are listed in the table below.
CPR Practical Exam Rubric
Domains
Course Objectives measured
from assignment
Assessment of patient
Students will be able to
recognize and react to the
four major life-threatening
emergencies including heart
attack, stroke, choking, and
sudden cardiac arrest.
Compressions
Students will perform
compressions with adequate
rate and depth
Students will demonstrate
adequate compressions on a
mannequin.
Artificial Ventilations
Students will provide artificial
ventilations using mouth to
mouth, mouth to face shield,
mouth to mask, and a bag
mask device
Students will demonstrate
mouth to face shield, mouth
to mask, and bag mask
ventilation on a mannequin.
AED Use
Students will integrate the
automated external
defibrillator into
resuscitations
Students will demonstrate
the use of an AED in a patient
scenario.
Communication
Students will effectively
communicate with
emergency response and
fellow rescuers to direct
emergency care in a clear
concise manner.
Students will communicate with
their partner to delineate
rescuer roles, assure adequate
compressions and ventilations,
clear the patient to shock, and
to identify rescuer fatigue
Student Learning Outcome
demonstrated through
assignment
Students will identify and
describe major signs and
symptoms of a heart attack,
sudden cardiac arrest,
choking and a stroke
Assignment:
At the conclusion of the course students were given a patient scenario in which they
manage the care of a person suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. They are responsible for
assessing the patient, synthesizing information gained from the assessment and providing
appropriate emergency care. Once CPR is initiated the student must be sure the patient is
receiving high quality compressions and artificial ventilations. The student must also
incorporate the use of the AED as soon as it becomes available and clearly communicate with
other rescuers on scene. Students are given a printout of the assignment beforehand and given
time to practice.
Evidence:
The CPR practical skills exam scoring rubric was used during the student’s final practical
exam to determine the attainment of the ability to integrate didactic knowledge with practical
skills in managing a cardiac arrest as described in the course’s student learning objectives.
Nineteen students were assessed during the final practical skills exam using the rubric attached
to this report. The scoring of the nineteen students participating in the final skills exam is listed
in the table shown below.
CPR Practical
Number of
Number of
Number of
Number of
Exam Rubric
students scoring
students scoring
students scoring
students scoring
Domains
as proficient (4)
as developing (3)
as Needing
as unsatisfactory
Improvement (2)
(1)
Assessment of
17
1
1
0
Compressions
17
1
1
0
Artificial
13
6
0
0
AED Use
13
4
2
0
Communication
17
0
2
0
patient
Ventilations
Analysis:
The results of the assessment show the majority of students who participated in the
course were able to obtain the student learning objectives at the level of proficiency at the time
of the final practical exam. This means the course is effective at achieving the objectives
because none of the students participating in the assessment had prior CPR experience at the
beginning of the course. However the assessment revealed the biggest weakness in the
students’ performance was with providing artificial ventilations. The students showed difficulty
in maintaining control of the airway or provided artificial ventilations improperly. This
revelation is important because artificial ventilation is a vital component to providing effective
CPR to a victim in cardiac arrest. The other area of weakness was with defibrillation. The most
common error students made was not placing the pads in the correct positions to provide the
patient with the most effective shock dose or delaying defibrillation. Students scored the
highest in the domains regarding assessment of the patient, compressions and communication
with the vast majority of the students scoring in the proficient category.
Results:
The results of the practical test using the rubric show that the class content affected the
student learning outcomes. All of categories showed learning occurred. However the
assessment of this course showed that course structure needs to be adjusted to allow more
time for students to practice providing artificial ventilations, mastering the use of the AED, and
integrating those skills into cardiac arrest care. The faculty involved in teaching the course
gathered at the end of the semester to discuss ways to improve performance in these areas.
Although they did not participate in the assessment of students this semester, they stated they
observed similar trends in their classes. To improve performance in weaker domains it was
suggested that we provide more in depth demonstrations of the skill and have students
perform mini checkout exams for each individual skill before putting it all together. It was also
suggested to purchase more equipment to cut down on the equipment to student ratio to allow
each student to have more time to practice with each piece of equipment. Next semester it
would be more beneficial to assess a larger number of sections and see if these proposed
changes have an effect on increasing the scores in the weaker domains.