High school students as ambassadors of CPR--a model for reaching the most appropriate target population?

Abstract

There is mismatch in age between those usually trained in CPR and those witnessing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with mean age reported at 30 and 65 years old, respectively. Two tier mass CPR self-training with manikin-DVD sets using school children has been reported. We have studied high school students as first tier and encouraged them to train older people. Four separate groups were tested: students before or after training and second tier adults before or after training with first tier students as facilitators. CPR performance was videotaped and electronically documented on a Skillmeter Anne manikin. Each student reported to train mean 2.8 extra persons, and 43% were aged 50 or older. Pre-training results were poor, while first and second tier persons performed equally well after training, and within ERC guideline recommendations. People trained at home with a manikin-DVD set and high school students as facilitators were able to perform CPR as recommended by ERC guidelines with a reasonable percentage aged 50 or older.