How to become an under 11 rescuer: a practical method to teach first aid to primary schoolchildren☆
Introduction
In most emergency situations, first aid needs to be administered by a layperson [1]. Even in the most favourable situations, it takes time for trained health care personnel to arrive at the scene [2]. The interval between, for example, a cardiac arrest and the start of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is critical to the survival of the patient [3], [4].
The number of laypeople who deliver first aid, after witnessing an accident is still too small [5]. Most of these occasional rescuers have never taken part in a basic life support (BLS) course. Surveys have shown that occasional witnesses attempt resuscitation in less than 30% of cases, so that the number of lives saved is still sub-optimal [6].
In the 1980s, the American Heart Association suggested that morbidity and mortality from cardiac arrest could be significantly reduced if at least 20% of the population were trained to act appropriately in an emergency [7].
Those involved in spreading the culture of how to act in an emergency, face two problems—attitude and learning.
The first problem concerns the need to spread the concept of correct behaviour and basic resuscitation skills to larger section of the population. Consequently, there is a requirement for a teaching method that is applicable on a large scale for people with widely different levels of education. For large-scale training an adequate number of instructors is required. The cost is seldom supported by public institutions and more often weighs on individual citizens or volunteers.
The second problem pertains to reinforce the skills learned to ensure that the behavioural changes induced by the training programme are retained [8]. It also means that the trainees become aware of the social benefit of their knowledge of basic resuscitation skills and the need for frequent refresher training.
In common with other authors [2], [9] and the European Resuscitation Council [10], we believe that the most appropriate way to address both problems is to include BLS courses within the school syllabus.
We report on how we have designed a Paediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) course for primary school children and the results we have achieved using different methods to induce long term learning.
Section snippets
Course preparation
The course on emergencies for primary school children, involves the combined efforts of paediatricians dealing with emergencies, schoolteachers, psychologists and a designer. It has been named ‘becoming an under 11 rescuer’. The core of the course addresses three issues: ‘the bleeding nose’, ‘the broken tooth’ and ‘paediatric basic life support’ (Fig. 1). The first two issues have been selected because they made possible to introduce the methodology of the course through two kinds of conditions
Results
Table 2 shows the results in the multiple-choice evaluation test achieved by study Groups (A or B) and school class.
Group B scored significantly better than Group A in any class (VB versus VA p < 0.001; IVB versus IVA p < 0.001; IIIB versus IIIA p < 0.01). Both in Group B and in Group A, the number of correct answers by children in school class V was significantly higher than in school classes IV and III (p < 0.001).
In both Group B and Group A the number of correct answers by children in school class
Discussion
The aim was to design a course for teaching primary school children to ensure adequate behaviour in an emergency. Of the three core issues in the course, PBLS was prepared according to current guidelines, adapted to the mental development of an average 8–11-year-old child.
The course method recognises that the ability to retain knowledge is based on the concomitant involvement of several senses. Students retain 10% of what they read, 20% of what they listen to, 30% of what they watch, 50% of
Acknowledgment
This project was made possible by a grant by nuovArmonia ONLUS association.
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What biomechanical factors are more important in compression depth for children lifesavers? A randomized crossover study
2019, American Journal of Emergency MedicinePreliminary results of teaching first aid to 5–6 year old children – a longitudinal study
2018, KontaktCitation Excerpt :The experiences we acquired during our test showed that first aid can be successfully taught to young children. Many other studies prove that teaching in younger age can be useful [26–28], but only a few deal with the first aid training for preschool children [29]. In Austria, six and seven year old children were able to learn and use first aid activities, for example, call an ambulance, CPR, AED, recovery position, minimise bleeding and burns [26].
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A Spanish and Portuguese translated version of the Abstract and Keywords of this article appears at 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2004.09.004.