CPR In Schools: Heart Assoc. May Require High School Students To Learn CPR

DALLAS — Learning CPR at school has given 14-year-old Olivia Frierson more confidence when she babysits or helps out at a church nursery.

"I'm not as worried if something would happen," said Olivia, a ninth-grader at Shaker Heights High School in suburban Cleveland.

The American Heart Association thinks there should be more students like Olivia. It wants states to require high school students to learn how to give CPR and use an automated external defibrillator before they graduate.

That would "create a generation that could be trained, ready and willing to act," said Mary Fran Hazinski, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tenn.

She's one of the authors of an advisory released Monday that the heart group developed with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians. It calls for state legislatures to require students to get CPR and AED training before graduating from high school.

At least 36 states either require or encourage cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in schools, according to the heart group. However, that ranges from suggesting that students recognize the steps of CPR to requiring certification.

Sudden cardiac arrest – when the heart suddenly stops beating – is a leading cause of death in the U.S. The heart association says an estimated 300,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital each year. Survival, which varies greatly from region to region, is estimated to be only about 8 percent on average.

"Bystander CPR can double or triple survival," said Hazinski.

By teaching students CPR and how to use a defibrillator, "They'd be available to respond at home, in public places like malls and health clubs," she said.

At Shaker Heights High School, students learn those skills during a four-week program that's part of a physical education class, said Stuart Gilbert, head of the school's health and PE department. They also learn how to help choking victims.

While the CPR program isn't required for graduation, the majority of the ninth-graders take the PE class, he said.

The students are at a "perfect age" for the classes, he said, because they're babysitting and getting other jobs that require such skills, like being a lifeguard.

"We give them the knowledge and confidence to know – when they are in a situation – they know how to handle it," he said.

In recent years, CPR guidelines have been revised to put more emphasis on chest compressions. Untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do mouth-to-mouth are encouraged to do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.

The easier approach should help people remember their training, said Dr. Ahamed Idris of the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.

"I think we've simplified it enough that people will be less worried that they'll make a mistake and it'll stick with them for a much longer time," he said.

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CPR: http://www.heart.org/cpr

Comments

[lucky-dog]

12:41 AM on 01/14/2011

er....looks like the hand placement on the dummy baby is wrong. hope they're teaching the classes correctly.

[loriz212]

07:37 PM on 01/13/2011

I teach a Wellness class at my high school in a poor district in New York City. I've been wanting to help my students get certified in CPR/first aid but it's too expensive. This mandate would be an amazing way to provide a much needed skill to my students and start them on a road to become more marketable.

[Karla Rodriguez]

04:11 PM on 01/13/2011

Learning CPR in school is a very good thing. Like the article says, it give students courage and confidence. When I learned CPR in health class in 9th grade I learned how to do CPR on kids manikins and adult manikins. I also learned what to do when someone is choking. In that case i agree in having CPR teachings in school.

[aimeegee94]

12:04 AM on 01/13/2011

Learning how to do CPR should beecouraged. It doesn harm anyone to learn. It gives confidence to people and even makes them feel better. Its good to create a generation that is ready and trained to act, in an emergency.

[Kellybelle22]

09:49 PM on 01/11/2011

The AHA wouldn't be able to "require" this, but they could certainly make a strong case to encourage it. Students are at the perfect age to learn this information, and CPR is one of the most important skills they can have. Such training would be easy to implement. Coaches now have to be CPR-AED-certified for their jobs. So can health teachers, lots of whom are coaches. That would allow them to include CPR as part of the regular HS health curriculum at minimal additional expense.

[Alberto J Pacheco]

02:16 PM on 01/11/2011

Infinitely better than prayer.

[mendoza915]

11:44 AM on 01/11/2011

I agree with the other two posters. What is more likely is that the AHA will recommend to state education agencies or may even lobby the federal government to require that this become a requirement in the curriculum or at the very least an option. I'm willing to bet this will be an unfunded mandate as well. But I definitely see the value of learning CPR at that age, even if they do not get certified.

[greasefire11]

09:01 AM on 01/11/2011

First, I agree 100% with the previous poster. Second, who is paying for this? AHA or unfunded mandate?

[mrstaylor]

01:38 PM on 01/13/2011

Many health teachers, like myself, are CPR instructors. Local chapters of the AHA,Red Cross, or even hospitals would most likely allow schools to borrow the needed manikins for training. I have my own because I teach in the community as well, but this would not be an expensive venture for schools.

[csa819]

08:49 AM on 01/11/2011

And by exactly what mechanism is the AHA going to "require" this? Has the AHA acquired some sort of statutory authority nobody has yet heard of?