Competence

Simply put competence is the ability to perform the skills required. It usually entails a score which relates to a specific level of accuracy. Being competent means that you are able to perform a specific skill or set of skills to a specific level of accuracy.

To know whether a person is able to perform correctly, that person must be evaluated. The evaluation should be based on evidence that the person provides when they perform the skills. A good evaluation would not rest on the opinion of a person. At best it should be objective and relate to a measurement of specific parameters.

SmartMan is an excellent way for an individual to train for competence and offers an accurate, objective measure of how a person performs as well.

Evidence Based Evaluation

This means that when you are assessed on how you perform chest compressions, ventilations or CPR, you must perform an action which then is measured. This is then used as evidence that you have learned the required skills.

Overall Score: CPR is performed for the good of the victim. It is how well all of the skills are performed together which matters. Thus SmartMan provides a total score.

Sub Skill Score: Yet on a training level or a post performance analysis, it can be helpful to understand how specific sub-skills were performed correctly or incorrectly. Thus SmartMan provides a detailed analysis of each sub-skill as well.

It is important in evidence based assessment that the assessment be accurate and thorough. It is very difficult and maybe impossible for a trainer to visually provide an accurate evaluation on all aspects of a person's CPR performance.

If a device is used it must accurately measure all parameters. If it only measures some of the parameters, then the assessment is of questionable value. For example it would be possible to perform chest compressions at the proper depth and rate but consistently fail to allow the chest to recoil. If you did not measure this failure you would mistakenly believe that the chest compressions were performed correctly. In this example that would be incorrect and the compressions would be of little value to the victim.

Ideally the person being tested should be aware of all of the parameters being used in the assessment and these should have been part of the training program. A good training program will only test what it has taught.

Objective Accurate Measurement

Traditionally trainers have provided little if any feedback to students in CPR classes. This means that the majority of people in the field have been performing CPR believing that they way they perform is correct when in fact this is not the case. This means that old performance habits and attitudes have to be changed.

Objective measurement of all skills is crucial to the student and the trainer. The measurement must be simple to understand.

The advantage of providing real time feedback is that people who have ingrained incorrect habits can see how their performance results change as they modify their behavior. This information is crucial to changing both practice and the attitude.

 Muscle Memory

"Practice Makes Perfect", but actually if you practice incorrect procedures, it creates an incorrect habit. That habit is your muscles remembering that incorrect pattern of behavior.

Muscle memory is a common term for neuromuscular facilitation. This is the process of the neuromuscular system memorizing a particular set of motor skills. The common term refers to a process where the brain and muscle, through repetition, establish a pattern which it learns to execute.

Both the brain and the muscles change as you train or practice. We usually think of getting better as we develop muscle memory but it is just as common to develop muscle memory for an incorrect action.

Muscle memory is fashioned over time through repetition. As you practice day after day after day, the neural system learns the fine and gross motor skills sufficiently well so you no longer have to think about them. They become automatic.

In greater detail, this is the process you go through. Muscle memory starts with knowing how to recognize when you should act. Often this is given from a sensory cue such as from you seeing something. Our brains process the information. Inside the brain are neurons (brain cells) that produce IMPULSES which carry tiny electrical currents. These currents cross the SYNAPSES (junctions) between neurons with chemical transporters called NEUROTRANSMITTERS to carry the communication. Neurotransmitters are the body's communicative mechanisms and one of their many functions is to travel through the central nervous system and carry the signal from the visual cue to the muscle for action. (The above is taken from Wikipedia.)

It takes time to build muscle memory  

In maximizing muscle memory to learn a new motion you must practice that same motion over a long enough period so that it becomes automatic. This learning process could take months, even years, to perfect depending on the individual's dedication to practice, and their unique biochemical neuromuscular learning system to retain that practice.

What we all know is that when we go to learn a new action it takes time; many many hours to learn even simple actions. And research on muscle memory confirms this.

If you have ever tried your hand at golf you will relate to this quotation.

"Most coaches will tell you that it takes hours of practice over many weeks to get the basics of the swing down."

And the same is true of basketball.

"Perfecting your game through knowledge of the sport and practice is essential to establishing sound muscle memory patterns. When it is time to practice and train, think about the given item you are working on every second of every shot. Then move on to the next item. When it is time to compete, let the mind go blank and let muscle memory take over. When you have achieved that level of mental discipline, you are truly in "the zone" and can reach whatever level of performance you choose." Advantage Basketball Camps

Here is an example from learning how to run several levers and 3 pedals to run some heavy machinery:

". learning to operate a piece of heavy machinery such as a construction crane. 4 hours of continuous evaluation is enough to determine whether the operator will succeed!"

Different people will take different lengths of time to learn how to do things. Regardless of that length of time, all of the research indicates that it takes hours of repetition for even simple actions. In summation:

"There's no length of time to characterize the learning process. It's not a certain set point, 1,000 reps and your there. It doesn't work like that." Dr. Jeff Briggs

Correct Action   Top

We have already mentioned that you build muscle memory through knowing what to do and through repetition. Unfortunately you will build muscle memory just as easily for incorrect actions as for correct actions. This highlights the importance of making sure that the people perform correctly. Thus to achieve the goal of having people perform CPR correctly we need several other components:

• The right kind of drill and practice to be sure you are doing the action correctly;
• Immediate feedback so you know when you are not doing it correctly and when you are doing it correctly;
• You need to practice over and over and over until you feel you have it down. And you may have to come back to it a few times to consolidate your learning;
• Individuals need to be able to clarify procedures and review their understanding of what they have to do until they get it right. Adults learn in different ways and they learn at different rates. Top

Visualizing Action in the mind   Top

The importance of visualizing as a key component to correct action is often over looked. Even in extreme sports experts are examining the link between correct execution and visualization. Larry Johnson has been exploring the neurological effects of visualization:

"When you visualize effectively your heart rate changes, your body tenses. In some cases your metabolism changes. Your brain cannot tell whether you did it or you were just thinking about doing it." (Larry Johnson - 17 Walls Director)

Physically going out and doing something is only one component of performance. The brain plays a vital role in all action. Correct knowledge and correct visualization play importance roles in producing people who can perform when required.

"Is repetition the only way to learn something? Do I have to do something a thousand times before I have it in the bag? I don't think that is the only way to learn. In some way watching a video or visualize in your mind is creating muscles memory in the same way as doing the repetition. Your brain cannot tell what is real and what is imagined in extreme detail." (Dr. Babak Samarek) Top

Rehearsing Action in the mind   Top

We all know that it takes many hundreds or even thousands of hours to learn a second language. Most people who study a foreign language will never learn to say more than a few stock phrases. In order to find out why some people seem to overcome the odds and learn how to communicate in the second language, researchers looked at how they behave differently.

Researchers have found that those who are successful often practice talking (without talking to anyone!). Practicing what you are going to say in the second language before you say it is called "rehearsal". This internal practice in your mind gets you ready so that you can perform correctly. Language rehearsal is a necessary step on the way to improve how you speak in a second language. Top