The impact of kids save lives program on recognition of cardiac arrest and comparison between first and second year of implementation

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Sudden cardiac death is one of the main issues worldwide, with more than 700.000 deaths annually. It is strongly believed that the implementation of "Kids Save Lives" project in schools can change this situation. The World Health Organization endorsed the ‘Kids Save Lives’ project in 2015 in order to reduce mortality. The first chain of survival concerns the recognition of cardiac arrest with chin lift and head tilt manoeuvre of the victim and the feel- look- listen approach. Purpose Τo evaluate the level of theoretical knowledge, as far the recognition of cardiac arrest is concerned in Greek secondary school students before and after the "Kids Save Lives" program and before and after the second year of implementation Material – Method: Data collection took place on the academic periods of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 and was performed in secondary schools of Thessaly’s region. A total of 4922 students (51,9% female, mean age 14.2 years) participated initially on the "Kids save Lives" program according to the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and World Health Organization (WHO) statement. 683 of them followed again the same program one year later A 12-point questionnaire was answered by the students before and after the "kid saves lives" program, while practical skills were evaluated on manikins by experienced ERC Basic Life Support (BLS) Instructors. The knowledge of the recognition of cardiac arrest is investigated in this subgroup analysis Results The training improves significantly the theoretical knowledge regarding the recognition of cardiac arrest, with the percentage of correct answers being 58,3% and 96,1%,before and after the course respectively for the first year (p < 0.001). One year later, students answered correct at 83,3% (p < 0,001) before the course and 96,1% after. In the practical part of the program, almost all of the participants (98.9%) could recognize the correct position near the victim and 91% perform chin lift manoeuvre and recognize cardiac arrest. The same results were observed in the second year. Conclusions The overall results reveal that the "Kids Save Lives" program can play a important role in improving the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills of Greek students towards the recognition of cardiac arrest and also indicate that this program should take place for at least 2 years in a row in order to help students maintain their knowledge.