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

BackgroundThere 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.MethodsFour 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.ResultsEach 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.ConclusionsPeople 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.