title: Quality of basic life support education and automated external defibrillator setting in schools in Ishikawa, Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Automated external defibrillators (AED) have been installed in schools in Japan since 2004, and the government strongly recommends teaching basic life support (BLS). We therefore examined the quality of BLS education and AED installation in schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prefecture-wide questionnaire survey of all primary and junior high schools in 2016, to assess BLS education and AED installation against the recommendations of the Japan Circulation Society. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-squared test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 195 schools out of 315 (62%) responded, of which 38% have introduced BLS education for children. BLS training was held in a smaller proportion of primary schools (18%) than junior high schools (86%). More than 90% of primary school staff had undergone BLS training in the previous 2 years. The most common locations of AED were the gymnasium (32%) followed by entrance hall (28%), staffroom (25%), and infirmary (12%). The reasons given for location were that it was obvious (34%), convenient for staff (32%), could be used out of hours (17%), and the most likely location for a heart attack (15%). Approximately 18% of schools reported that it takes >5 min to reach the AED from the furthest point.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BLS training, AED location, and understanding of both are not sufficient to save children's lives efficiently. Authorities should make recommendations about the correct number of AED, and their location, and provide more information to improve the quality of BLS training in schools.
authors: Department of Medical Education, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.|Department of Community Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.|Clinical Simulation Centre, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.|Department of Family Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan.
authors: Akiteru
authors: A
authors: Takamura
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Sayori
authors: S
authors: Ito
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Kaori
authors: K
authors: Maruyama
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Yusuke
authors: Y
authors: Ryo
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Manami
authors: M
authors: Saito
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Shuhei
authors: S
authors: Fujimura
authors: Clinical Simulation Centre, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Yuna
authors: Y
authors: Ishiura
authors: Department of Medical Education, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan.
authors: Ariyuki
authors: A
authors: Hori
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D047548:Defibrillators; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006266:Health Education / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000295:instrumentation; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012572:School Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D012574:Schools
keywords: automated external defibrillator; basic life support; community; school; simulated education