Abstract 17385: CPR Education in High-need Schools to Increase Student Knowledge and Comfort Performing CPR

Abstract

Introduction: Low-income neighborhoods are important targets for CPR trainings as they typically have high incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and low prevalence of bystander CPR. Training middle school students in these neighborhoods is a novel intervention to increase CPR awareness. Objective: Conduct a school-based CPR intervention using classroom teachers as facilitators at 1131 middle schools across the United States with a high proportion of students from lower-income families. Methods: Population: 1131 public middle and high schools in 34 states (including the District of Columbia) were selected for the 2014-2015 school year to participate based on close proximity to sponsor’s U.S. store locations and 50% or more student eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. Intervention: Participants completed a pre-test survey to assess baseline knowledge of CPR and comfort performing CPR. A classroom Hands-Only CPR training lasting one class period was conducted with the CPR in Schools Training Kit™, which includes an educational DVD, 10 manikins and resources for any classroom teacher to conduct trainings. Participants then completed post-training knowledge and comfort survey. McNemar’s tests on paired data and chi square and t-tests on aggregated unpaired data were conducted to assess for differences in CPR knowledge and comfort performing CPR pre- and post-training. Results: Training data were returned by 563 (49.8%) participating schools training a total of 150,409 students in Hands-Only CPR. Using a sample of returned data, the mean number of questions answered correctly on CPR knowledge increased from 2.5 to 4.2 (out of 5). The majority of participants (75.8%) felt comfortable performing Hands-Only CPR after the intervention. Conclusion: A total of 150,409 students from 563 schools were trained in Hands-Only CPR (average 267 students/CPR in Schools Training Kit). At $625 per CPR in Schools Training Kit (with 10 manikins and materials), training cost $4.70 for each student trained. Participants demonstrated increased knowledge of and comfort performing CPR. The CPR in Schools Training Kit is a low cost and promising method for increasing bystander CPR awareness in the student population in low-income neighborhoods.