Abstract

Video compression and assessment of basic life support skills

Author(s): Kris Hayres, Harry Owen, John Plummer, Cyle Sprick

Introduction: a video of students performing clinical skills is very useful for teaching, learning and assessment. Optimal utilisation of videos requires these media files to be transferred between staff and students through the web and to be stored. Video compression is required because access to high-speed broadband is not universal and there are additional factors limiting file transfer.

Methods: videos of students (n=65) performing basic life support (BLS) for approximately 3 minutes on a Resusci® Anne with SkillReporter™ were viewed by 5 assessors. Videos were presented as original data files, approximately 30MB, 10MB, 5MB and 2MB files. Assessors rated the students’ performance as acceptable, unacceptable or unable to assess (based on image quality).

Results: the ability to assess performance from the video was compared for the four file sizes and only compression to 2MB was significantly different to the uncompressed video (p < 0.001). Conclusion: current technology allows short video files to be compressed for transfer and storage through the web and still be useable for assessment or inclusion in an e-Portfolio; but there is a limit. This allows healthcare students and postgraduates, even in areas without high speed broadband, to access opportunities for feedback on performance and to track their skills development.