Building awareness of the first aid among the primary school children in Poland – the effects of a training in practical chest compressions

Abstract

Objectives Practical classes in first aid held for young people attending schools, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, are a very popular form of non-compulsory classes, not included in the basic curriculum mandatory for all pupils. The teachers are eager to invite paramedics to schools as instructors running workshops in rescue techniques, terms of safe behaviour in the face of a threat and the correct way to call a Medical Rescue Team (MRT). Material and methods The study included 97 pupils from primary schools in Lubelskie Voivodeship. The study group were pupils from years 6 through 8 (aged 12-14). The training station was connected to a computer with the SkillReporter QCPR (Laerdal) software, which allowed controlling and archiving test results. Subsequently, each pupil provided CPR within the specific timeframe of 2 minutes (i.e. for the maximum of 120 seconds). Results The study included 97 pupils: 60 boys (61.9%) and 37 girls (38.1%). Age profile of the pupils: 12 years old (n=31), 13 years old (n=34) and 14 years old (n=32). 94 pupils completed the planned task fully (a 2-minute cycle of chest compressions on a training model). Three pupils ended the task after 102, 105 and 114 seconds out of the planned 120. Children who have a lower BMI much more frequently carried out CPR incorrectly as they compressed the chest too shallowly compared to children with higher BMI (rho = 0.216, p = 0.033). Conclusions The awareness and skills of schoolchildren in the field of first aid should be developed from the earliest possible moment. Children with a lower BMI value were characterized by significantly more frequent errors in CPR in terms of too shallow pressure performance than children with higher BMI values. There was no statistically significant influence of age group and gender on the quality of CPR performance.

Keywords

• cardiopulmonary resuscitation
• chest compression
• school youth
• bmi value
• security awareness