The Impact of Learning Style on Healthcare Providers' Preference for Voice Advisory Manikins Versus Live Instructors in Basic Life Support Training

The American Heart Association's HeartCode™ Healthcare Provider (HCP) Basic Life Support (BLS) e-learning program with voice-advisory manikins was implemented in an acute care hospital as the only teaching method offered for BLS certification. On course evaluations, healthcare provider staff commented that the VAM technology for skills practice and testing did not match the ways they liked to learn. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to identify the HCP students' learning styles and to examine if their experience affects their preference of using the VAM verses a live instructor for BLS skills practice and testing. This study used the Kolb's Learning Style Inventory to determine the healthcare provider students' learning styles and the VAM Preference Tool was used to quantify their experience using the VAM technology for skills practice and testing. One-on-one interviews explored the students' experience of working with the VAM. Findings from both quantitative and qualitative data supported that there is no statistically significant difference in preference for using the VAM rather than a live instructor for BLS skills testing among Kolb's 4 learning styles. The participants, regardless of learning style, preferred to have the assistance of a BLS instructor during the use of VAM technology for HeartCode BLS Part 2 skills practice and testing. This research contributes to social change by providing evidence that supports best practices for a successful HeartCode BLS implementation that promotes student satisfaction, thus benefiting the facility's healthcare providers, hospital administration, and other organizations' training center coordinators.