The effects of music on the cardiac resuscitation education of nursing students

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effects of music on the appropriate performance of the rate and depth of chest compression for nursing students. MethodsThis randomized controlled study was conducted in the School of Nursing in Turkey between November 2014 and January 2015. The study’s participants were second-year nursing school students with no previous formal cardiac resuscitation training (n=77). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an intervention group with music and a control group without music. During practical training, the intervention group performed chest compressions with music. The outcomes of this study were collected twice. The first evaluation was conducted one day after CPR education, and the second evaluation was conducted six weeks after the initial training. ResultsThe first evaluation shows that the participants in the intervention group had an average rate of 107.33±7.29 chest compressions per minute, whereas the rate for the control group was 121.47±12.91. The second evaluation shows that the rates of chest compression for the intervention and control groups were 106.24±8.72 and 100.71±9.54, respectively. ConclusionThe results of this study show that a musical piece enables students to remember the ideal rhythm for chest compression. Performing chest compression with music can easily be integrated into CPR education because it does not require additional technology and is cheap.