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


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Lorem
Tonje
T
Department of Research and Development, Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, Drobak, Norway.
Steen
Petter Andreas
PA
Wik
Lars
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008348:Manikins; D017145:Models, Educational; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013334:Students; D014742:Videodisc Recording; D014743:Videotape Recording