Urban Public School Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions of the Effectiveness of CPR and Automated External Defibrillators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent legislation and public policy has placed new responsibilities on public school teachers, requiring that they be trained to respond to medical emergencies, especially cardiac arrest. This study examined urban public school teachers' perceptions of the efficacy of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) via a written survey. Two hundred fifty-nine (259) teachers in a single, large, urban school district were randomly selected, and 77.6% responded. Only 16.3% had received CPR training within the past 2 years. The majority of teachers believed that CPR alone (83.0%) and CPR/AED (92.6%) prior to ambulance arrival would result in a favorable outcome of cardiac arrest. Less than half (47.5%) indicated that they would attempt to provide CPR if a coworker or student collapsed. The majority (72.7%) of teachers believed that schools should have AEDs, and 62.6% believed that public funds should be used to purchase the AEDs. This study suggests that urban teachers have an unrealistically high perception of the efficacy of both CPR and AEDs, and that they would be unwilling to provide CPR in a medical emergency. This information, along with the known low incidence of life-threatening events in schools, suggests a very limited effectiveness of CPR and AED programs for schoolteachers.