Introduction:
Cardiac arrest is responsible for 300,000 deaths in the United States. Bystander CPR has been shown to improve survival, but is only performed 30-50% of the time.
Objectives:
To determine if a chest compression-only (CCO) ultra-brief video (UBV) and a CCO-CPR class are effective at teaching CCO-CPR to high school students.
Methods:
This was a prospective cluster-randomized controlled trial with three arms: 1) CCO- UBV, 2) CCO-Class, 3) a control group (college recruiting video). High school students enrolled in a health course were randomized by class into of the 3 study arms. CPR performance was assessed with Laerdal Skillreporter mannequins after presentation of a scenario (sudden witnessed collapse) before (Pre), after (Post), and at 2 months following each intervention. CPR performance measures included the following: calling 911/starting compressions within 2 minutes, mean rate and depth of compressions.
Results:
168/206 students 14-18 years of age, representing 5 classes, participated in this study. Results are shown in the Table. The proportion of participants that called 911 and/or started compressions within 2 minutes, as well as chest compression rate, significantly improved following the UBV and CCO-Class Post and at 2 months. Chest compression depth significantly improved following the CCO-Class both Post and at 2 months. No performance measure improved Pre to Post for the control arm.
Limitations:
More than one model of mannequin was used, observers and participants were not blinded to the intervention, and the study population represented a single public high school.
Conclusions:
A CCO-UBV and a brief CCO-CPR Class were effective at increasing the likelihood of calling 911, initiating CCO-CPR within 2 minutes and improving chest compression rate up to 2 months after the video or class in a population of high school students. The CCO-CPR class also significantly improved chest compression depth up to 2 months after the class.