TY  - JOUR
AU  - Schnetzler, Nicolas
AU  - Taramarcaz, Victor
AU  - Herren, Tara
AU  - Golay, Eric
AU  - Regard, Simon
AU  - Mach, François
AU  - Nasution, Amanta
AU  - Larribau, Robert
AU  - Suppan, Melanie
AU  - Schiffer, Eduardo
AU  - Suppan, Laurent
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/4/24
TI  - Recruiting Medical, Dental, and Biomedical Students as First Responders in the Immediate Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospective Follow-Up Study
JO  - JMIR Med Educ
SP  - e63018
VL  - 11
KW  - basic life support
KW  - out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
KW  - cardiopulmonary resuscitation
KW  - e-learning
KW  - blended learning
KW  - first responder
KW  - undergraduate medical education
KW  - student motivation
KW  - motivational strategies
KW  - medical student
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - pandemic
KW  - life support
KW  - survival prognosis
KW  - biomedical students
KW  - dental students
KW  - motivational interventions
AB  - Background: Basic life support improves survival prognosis after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but is too rarely provided before the arrival of professional rescue services. First responder networks have been developed in many regions of the world to decrease the delay between collapse and initiation of resuscitation maneuvers. Their efficiency depends on the number of first responders available and many networks lack potential rescuers. Medical, dental, and biomedical students represent an almost untapped source of potential first responders, and a first study, carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the recruitment of many of these future professionals even though many restrictions were still in effect. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of an enhanced strategy on the recruitment of medical, dental, and biomedical students as first responders in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a prospective follow-up study, conducted between November 2021 and March 2022 at the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. A web-based study platform was used to manage consent, registrations, and certificates. A first motivational intervention was held early in the academic year and targeted all first-year medical, dental, and biomedical students. Participants first answered a questionnaire designed to assess their initial basic life support knowledge before following an e-learning module. Those who completed the module were able to register for a face-to-face training session held by senior medical students. A course certificate was awarded to those who completed these sessions, enabling them to register as first responders on the Save a Life first responder network. Since the number of students who had enlisted as first responders 2 months after the motivational intervention was markedly lower than expected, a second, unplanned motivational intervention was held in an attempt to recruit more students. Results: Out of a total of 674 first-year students, 19 (2.5%) students had registered as first responders after the first motivational intervention. This was significantly less than the proportion achieved through the initial study (48/529, 9.1%; P<.001). The second motivational intervention led to the enrollment of 7 more students (26/674, 3.9%), a figure still significantly lower than that of the original study (P<.001). At the end of the study, 76 (11.3%) students had been awarded a certificate of competence. Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, an earlier presentation during the academic year outside the COVID restriction period did not increase the recruitment of medical, dental, and biomedical students as first responders in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reasons underlying this drop in motivation should be explored to enable the design of focused motivational interventions. 
SN  - 2369-3762
UR  - https://mededu.jmir.org/2025/1/e63018
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/63018
DO  - 10.2196/63018
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/63018
ER  -