Top Things to Know: Uniform Reporting of Outcomes From Resuscitation Education Research: The Resuscitation Education Utstein Style: A Consensus Report from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation

Updated: April 20, 2026

Prepared by Jaylen Wright, PhD, Science & Health Advisor, American Heart Association

  1. This is the first global standard for reporting outcomes in resuscitation education.
    It provides a unified framework to define and measure outcomes across studies, addressing long-standing inconsistency in the field.
  2. Standardization strengthens evidence and guidelines.
    Consistent outcome reporting enables comparison across studies, improves systematic reviews, and supports stronger guideline and treatment recommendations.
  3. The framework was developed using a rigorous international Delphi process.
    Global experts identified consensus outcome categories and measures through a structured, multi-round process.
  4. Sixteen outcome categories were defined for both HCPs and laypeople.
    These include knowledge, skills, retention, team performance, instructor outcomes, and patient/system-level outcomes.
  5. Outcomes span the full learning-to-impact pathway.
    The framework connects instructor performance → learner outcomes → patient outcomes → system-level impact.
  6. The Resuscitation Education Outcomes Pyramid organizes this progression.
    It highlights how strong instruction underpins learning, which ultimately influences survival and population health outcomes.
  7. CPR quality metrics are prioritized due to their link to survival.
    Measures like compression depth, rate, and pauses are emphasized as critical, clinically meaningful outcomes.
  8. Standard retention intervals improve comparability across studies.
    Knowledge and skill retention should be reported at:
    • < 3 months
    • 3–6 months
    • 6 months
  9. Composite CPR scores are discouraged.
    Researchers should instead report “overall excellent CPR” based on guideline-compliant depth and rate.
  10. This framework ultimately supports saving more lives.
    By improving the quality and consistency of education research, it strengthens training, guidelines, and real-world cardiac arrest outcomes.

View the summary for Uniform Reporting of Outcomes From Resuscitation Education Research: The Resuscitation Education Utstein Style

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Citation

Cheng A, Lauridsen K, Greif R, Finn J, Eastwood K, Yeung J, Lockey A, Dainty K, Geduld H, Diederich E, Bhanji F; on behalf of the American Heart Association. Uniform reporting of outcomes from resuscitation education research: the resuscitation education Utstein style: a consensus report from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Circ Popul Health Outcomes. Published online April 20, 2026. doi: 10.1161/HCQ.0000000000000144
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