Quality of chest compressions performed by school-age children — a quasi-experimental simulation-based study
, 1, 2, 2, 3, 14
Abstract
Introduction: Most of the research worldwide mentions that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training should be conducted among children. The knowledge of life-saving practices of CPR should be made available to various groups of society, including children. The present study shows the results of such experiments done with children, especially with regard to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Children are apt learners and thus can be of great help in case of sudden OHCA, to their grandparents, for example.
Material and methods: This study aimed to find out if children aged 7–12 have the ability to perform quality chest compressions (CC), which is one of the most important activities in CPR. The study involved 447 children from public elementary schools who never had practical classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation before. The following parameters were defined as primary outcomes: chest compression fraction (CCF), session time, mean depth, rate of compressions, percentage of compressions at the correct depth, recoil, and the correct rate of compression.
Results: The results showed that the compression rate improves with training; however, the mean depth of compression still remains a great problem.
Conclusions: Although children aged 7–12 are not really in a position to perform a high-quality CPR, the importance and role of CPR training cannot be neglected. Such training results in the betterment of the quality of CPR.
Keywords: cardiopulmonary resuscitationcommunity health educationsimulation studychest compressionssimulation training
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