Influence of financial subsidy and venue on advanced cardiac life support courses, in the learning of cardiovascular emergency.

BACKGROUND The success in learning of emergency depends on many factors that can be summarized as: student, instructors and course. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the influence of financial subsidy and venue of course in learning cardiovascular emergency. METHODS Data were analyzed regarding the courses of Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) in the period from December 2005 to December 2006. In agreement with the financial subsidy, they were divided in: group 1 - integral subsidy; group 2 - subsidy of 50%; and group 3 - without subsidy. As for the venue of the course, they were divided in: locality A - study in city with> 1 million inhabitants; and locality B - study in city with <1 million inhabitants. The practical and theoretical approval and the theoretical average were compared. RESULTS 819 students participated in ACLS: 199 (24%) in group 1, 122 (15%) in 2 and 498 (61%) in 3. The practical and theoretical approval and the average in the theoretical exam were greater in group 3 than in other groups (p <0.05). Four hundred and eighty two (482) took the course in venue A (59%) and 337 (41%) in venue B. The practical approval was similar for both groups (p = 0.33), however the theoretical approval was greater in venue A (73% vs. 65% - p = 0.021 - OR = 1.44 and IC: 1.05 - 1.97). The theoretical average was greater in venue A (87.1 +/- 10.4 and 86 +/- 11, respectively p <0.05). CONCLUSION The financial subsidy and venue of the course had influence in the theoretical and practical approval.