Background For the basic life support (BLS) renewal course, we have devised a new educational programme entitled a small-group-discussion (SGD) programme using personalised video-based debriefing.

Objective We compared the efficacy in BLS skill improvement of the SGD programme with the currently used practice-while-watching (PWW) programme, which uses a standardised education video.

Method This was a prospective, cluster randomised study, conducted in a single centre, over 6 months from May 2009 to October 2009. Training was performed in two groups of participants, each group with a different renewal education programme. The efficacy of the programmes was compared using the modified Cardiff test and skill-reporting manikins.

Results Results from 2169 participants were analysed: 1061 in the SGD programme group and 1108 in the PWW programme group. There were no differences between groups on the pretest, either in compression or non-compression skills. However, on the post-test, the SGD programme gave better results for both compression skills and non-compression skills.

Conclusions The new SGD renewal programme is more effective than the PWW programme for improving skills in BLS renewal training.