Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Teaching basic life support in schools: Still waiting for public funding

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 77; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.resuscitation.2007.12.010

1873-1570

Òscar Miró, Miquel Sánchez, Xavier Jiménez-Fàbrega, Xavier Escalada-Roig,

Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare

In Europe, witnessed sudden death is a major health problem, despite general agreement that things could be improved by spreading basic life support (BLS) skills in the population. In their recent article, Toner et al. 1Toner P. Conolly M. Laverty L. McGrath P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. Teaching basic life support to school children using medical students and teachers in a “peer-training” model. Results of the “ABC for life” programme.Resuscitation. 2007; 75: 169-175Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar confirmed their previous work,2Connolly M. Toner P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. The ‘ABC for life’ programme—teaching basic life support in schools.Resuscitation. 2007; 72: 270-279Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (81) Google Scholar and showed that BLS courses for school students are effective. A number of studies identifies students in the mandatory school period as the best target for BLS courses. The best age to learn BLS skills,3Jones I. Whitfield R. Colquhoun M. Chamberlain D. Vetter N. Newcombe R. At what age can schoolchildren provide effective chest compressions? An observational study from the Heartstart UK schools training programme.Br Med J. 2007; 334: 1201-1203Crossref PubMed Scopus (104) Google Scholar the most suitable teaching format to fit students’ and teachers’ expectations,4Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Díaz N. et al.Programa de reanimación cardiopulmonar orientado a centros de enseñanza secundaria (PROCES): análisis de los resultados del estudio piloto.Med Clin. 2005; 124: 4-9Crossref PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar, 5Breckwoldt J. Beetz D. Schnitzer L. Waskow C. Arntz H.R. Weimann J. Medical students teaching basic life support to school children as a required element of medical education: a randomised controlled study comparing three different approaches to fifth year medical training in emergency medicine.Resuscitation. 2007; 74: 158-165Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar and even the best ways to make courses cheaper1Toner P. Conolly M. Laverty L. McGrath P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. Teaching basic life support to school children using medical students and teachers in a “peer-training” model. Results of the “ABC for life” programme.Resuscitation. 2007; 75: 169-175Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar, 6Jiménez Fábrega X. Escalada Roig X. Mejorar la enseñanza en reanimación cardiopulmonary … ¿no tiene precio?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 298-299Google Scholar, 7Iglesias Vázquez J.A. Penas Penas M. Rodríguez Núñez A. Cegarra García M. Barreiro Díaz V. Varela-Portas Mariño J. Estudio coste-efectividad de la enseñanza de la reanimación cardiopulmonar con simuladores.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 312-318Google Scholar have been studied. If teaching BLS skills to schoolchildren was implemented, widespread knowledge of BLS skills could be achieved in Europe within a couple of decades.Like the rest of Western Europe, Spain has a poor survival rate after cardiac arrest.8Casal Codesido J.R. Vázquez Lima M.J. Reanimación cardiopulmonary extrahospitalaria: ¿dónde estamos?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 295-297Google Scholar, 9Navalpotro Pascual J.M. Fernández Pérez C. Navalpotro Pascual S. Supervivencia en las paradas cardiorrespiratorias en las que se realizó reanimación cardiopulmonar durante la asistencia extrahospitalaria.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 300-305Google Scholar We are absolutely convinced of the appropriateness of incorporating a mandatory BLS course/subject in the school curriculum.4Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Díaz N. et al.Programa de reanimación cardiopulmonar orientado a centros de enseñanza secundaria (PROCES): análisis de los resultados del estudio piloto.Med Clin. 2005; 124: 4-9Crossref PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar, 6Jiménez Fábrega X. Escalada Roig X. Mejorar la enseñanza en reanimación cardiopulmonary … ¿no tiene precio?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 298-299Google Scholar, 10Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Espígol G. et al.Teaching basic life support to 12–16 year olds in Barcelona school: views of head teachers.Resuscitation. 2006; 70: 107-116Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (56) Google Scholar We have shown that there is a lot of interest in this from parents, teachers and students alike. However, after 8 years of working towards this goal, we are also convinced that our competent authorities do not believe in this necessity because no regular funds are allocated to these programmes. We believe that needs to be a greater emphasis in future studies on how to obtain public funding to extend such courses to all school students. The lack of public funding is a major barrier to improving survival after cardiac arrest in Europe. Only with the commitment of the European Ministries of Health and Education to this project, will this be successful.Conflict of interestNone. In Europe, witnessed sudden death is a major health problem, despite general agreement that things could be improved by spreading basic life support (BLS) skills in the population. In their recent article, Toner et al. 1Toner P. Conolly M. Laverty L. McGrath P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. Teaching basic life support to school children using medical students and teachers in a “peer-training” model. Results of the “ABC for life” programme.Resuscitation. 2007; 75: 169-175Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar confirmed their previous work,2Connolly M. Toner P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. The ‘ABC for life’ programme—teaching basic life support in schools.Resuscitation. 2007; 72: 270-279Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (81) Google Scholar and showed that BLS courses for school students are effective. A number of studies identifies students in the mandatory school period as the best target for BLS courses. The best age to learn BLS skills,3Jones I. Whitfield R. Colquhoun M. Chamberlain D. Vetter N. Newcombe R. At what age can schoolchildren provide effective chest compressions? An observational study from the Heartstart UK schools training programme.Br Med J. 2007; 334: 1201-1203Crossref PubMed Scopus (104) Google Scholar the most suitable teaching format to fit students’ and teachers’ expectations,4Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Díaz N. et al.Programa de reanimación cardiopulmonar orientado a centros de enseñanza secundaria (PROCES): análisis de los resultados del estudio piloto.Med Clin. 2005; 124: 4-9Crossref PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar, 5Breckwoldt J. Beetz D. Schnitzer L. Waskow C. Arntz H.R. Weimann J. Medical students teaching basic life support to school children as a required element of medical education: a randomised controlled study comparing three different approaches to fifth year medical training in emergency medicine.Resuscitation. 2007; 74: 158-165Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar and even the best ways to make courses cheaper1Toner P. Conolly M. Laverty L. McGrath P. Connolly D. McCluskey D.R. Teaching basic life support to school children using medical students and teachers in a “peer-training” model. Results of the “ABC for life” programme.Resuscitation. 2007; 75: 169-175Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar, 6Jiménez Fábrega X. Escalada Roig X. Mejorar la enseñanza en reanimación cardiopulmonary … ¿no tiene precio?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 298-299Google Scholar, 7Iglesias Vázquez J.A. Penas Penas M. Rodríguez Núñez A. Cegarra García M. Barreiro Díaz V. Varela-Portas Mariño J. Estudio coste-efectividad de la enseñanza de la reanimación cardiopulmonar con simuladores.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 312-318Google Scholar have been studied. If teaching BLS skills to schoolchildren was implemented, widespread knowledge of BLS skills could be achieved in Europe within a couple of decades. Like the rest of Western Europe, Spain has a poor survival rate after cardiac arrest.8Casal Codesido J.R. Vázquez Lima M.J. Reanimación cardiopulmonary extrahospitalaria: ¿dónde estamos?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 295-297Google Scholar, 9Navalpotro Pascual J.M. Fernández Pérez C. Navalpotro Pascual S. Supervivencia en las paradas cardiorrespiratorias en las que se realizó reanimación cardiopulmonar durante la asistencia extrahospitalaria.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 300-305Google Scholar We are absolutely convinced of the appropriateness of incorporating a mandatory BLS course/subject in the school curriculum.4Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Díaz N. et al.Programa de reanimación cardiopulmonar orientado a centros de enseñanza secundaria (PROCES): análisis de los resultados del estudio piloto.Med Clin. 2005; 124: 4-9Crossref PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar, 6Jiménez Fábrega X. Escalada Roig X. Mejorar la enseñanza en reanimación cardiopulmonary … ¿no tiene precio?.Emergencias. 2007; 19: 298-299Google Scholar, 10Miró O. Jiménez-Fábrega X. Espígol G. et al.Teaching basic life support to 12–16 year olds in Barcelona school: views of head teachers.Resuscitation. 2006; 70: 107-116Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (56) Google Scholar We have shown that there is a lot of interest in this from parents, teachers and students alike. However, after 8 years of working towards this goal, we are also convinced that our competent authorities do not believe in this necessity because no regular funds are allocated to these programmes. We believe that needs to be a greater emphasis in future studies on how to obtain public funding to extend such courses to all school students. The lack of public funding is a major barrier to improving survival after cardiac arrest in Europe. Only with the commitment of the European Ministries of Health and Education to this project, will this be successful. Conflict of interestNone. None.