If you don't remember your password, you can reset it by entering your email address and clicking the Reset Password button. You will then receive an email that contains a secure link for resetting your password
If the address matches a valid account an email will be sent to __email__ with instructions for resetting your password
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandSchool of Medicine, Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick and Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospital, Bath, United Kingdom
Educating schoolteachers in CPR and qualifying them to teach CPR to children as part of the worldwide “KIDS SAVE LIVES” initiative (Fig. 1) will help improve survival after sudden out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) considerably and sustainably.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
Teachers can easily be educated to become competent in Basic Life Support (BLS; CPR in this position statement includes all measures of BLS – chest compressions, ventilation and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED)) instructors for their schoolchildren within four hours by using specially developed CPR instructor courses.
Modularer Lehrerausbildungskurs des Deutschen Rates für Wiederbelebung (GRC) für den Wiederbelebungsunterricht in Schulen–Positionspapier des GRC nach der Empfehlung der Deutschen Kultusministerkonferenz und dem aktuellen GRC-Mustercurriculum.
Fig. 1The “KIDS SAVE LIVES” logo has been developed by the Italian Resuscitation Council (IRC). We very much appreciate and acknowledge that the IRC is providing this logo for free to all participating in the “KIDS SAVE LIVES” campaign in Europe and all over the world.
Long term outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with physician staffed emergency medical services: the Utstein style applied to a midsized urban/suburban area.
Part 1: Executive summary: 2015 international consensus on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care science with treatment recommendations.
As up to 70% of OHCAs are witnessed by bystanders, the most promising way to really improve overall survival in OHCA worldwide is to enhance the rate of bystander CPR.
Association of national initiatives to improve cardiac arrest management with rates of bystander intervention and patient survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest after standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation or chest compressions only before arrival of emergency medical services: nationwide study during three guideline periods.
Adult basic life support and automated external defibrillation section Collaborators. European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015: Section 2. Adult basic life support and automated external defibrillation.
There are several effective possibilities to increase lay CPR rates worldwide, and one of the best and most sustainable ways to do so is to increase mandatory nationwide CPR education of schoolchildren.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
Education and implementation of resuscitation section Collaborators. European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015: Section 10. Education and implementation of resuscitation.
Schoolchildren will grow up and may maintain the acquired skills for the rest of their life. Besides that, they can easily serve as multipliers by teaching CPR to their families and friends.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
Association of national initiatives to improve cardiac arrest management with rates of bystander intervention and patient survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest after standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation or chest compressions only before arrival of emergency medical services: nationwide study during three guideline periods.
KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL: a successful pilot program to implement CPR at primary and high schools in Brazil resulting in a state law for a training CPR week.
The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has committed to the promotion of CPR education for lay people in basic life support since 1992, culminating in the first European Restart a Heart Day on the 16th of October 2013 with the motto “Children Saving Lives”.
Self-confidence and level of knowledge after cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in 14 to 18-year-old schoolchildren: a randomised-interventional controlled study in secondary schools in Germany.
Kids save lives: a six-year longitudinal study of schoolchildren learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation: who should do the teaching and will the effects last?.
CPR education in children facilitates the development of this psychomotor skill just like swimming, playing an instrument or riding a bike: they will never forget and remember lifelong how to save a life.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
A key question is how to implement CPR education of schoolchildren in the most effective way in all schools all over the world. Schoolteachers have long-lasting experience in teaching children, and there is already evidence that schoolteachers educated in CPR are able to teach schoolchildren as effectively as any healthcare professional.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
Kids save lives: a six-year longitudinal study of schoolchildren learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation: who should do the teaching and will the effects last?.
In addition, schoolteachers are motivated to educate and they can serve as initial multipliers. Subsequently, CPR knowledge and skills can be spread further by asking children to serve as peers for other children, or to teach all their family members and friends.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
The ERC has developed 10 principles as an action framework for the education of teachers and for the qualification of schoolchildren in CPR. It consists of a two-steps CPR teaching approach, firstly by teaching CHECK–CALL–COMPRESS,
Modularer Lehrerausbildungskurs des Deutschen Rates für Wiederbelebung (GRC) für den Wiederbelebungsunterricht in Schulen–Positionspapier des GRC nach der Empfehlung der Deutschen Kultusministerkonferenz und dem aktuellen GRC-Mustercurriculum.
Modularer Lehrerausbildungskurs des Deutschen Rates für Wiederbelebung (GRC) für den Wiederbelebungsunterricht in Schulen–Positionspapier des GRC nach der Empfehlung der Deutschen Kultusministerkonferenz und dem aktuellen GRC-Mustercurriculum.
Teachers already know how to teach, and our program adds the specifics of CPR education.
The responsible people in the Ministries of Education and/or Ministries of Schools and other leading politicians of each country should implement a nationwide program for educating the schoolteachers to become fully competent in CPR and, thus – with their help–, to educate schoolchildren in CPR.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
KIDS SAVE LIVES has an enormous potential to save hundreds of thousands additional lives every year or, in other words, most probably one life every two minutes.
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
The ERC includes into the terms school, schoolchildren and schoolteachers all types of schools, from kindergarten to higher education including medical schools and universities.
1The ERC includes into the terms school, schoolchildren and schoolteachers all types of schools, from kindergarten to higher education including medical schools and universities.
During infectious epidemics (like the COVID-19 pandemic), potential transmission of virus has always to be taken into account. This might also impact teaching and delivery of CPR. Therefore, both should always stay with the local recommendations. Moreover, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and the ERC have developed actual Guidelines for these specific situations that can be found at https://costr.ilcor.org/document/covid-19-infection-risk-to-rescuers-from-patients-in-cardiac-arrest and at https://www.erc.edu/https://erc.edu/covid.
2During infectious epidemics (like the COVID-19 pandemic), potential transmission of virus has always to be taken into account. This might also impact teaching and delivery of CPR. Therefore, both should always stay with the local recommendations. Moreover, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and the ERC have developed actual Guidelines for these specific situations that can be found at https://costr.ilcor.org/document/covid-19-infection-risk-to-rescuers-from-patients-in-cardiac-arrest and at https://www.erc.edu/https://erc.edu/covid.
:
1.
CPR education of schoolchildren – two hours per year and starting as early as possible and at the latest at the age of 12 years – has been endorsed in 2015 by the World Health Organization (WHO), and schoolteachers should facilitate that approach.
2.
The ERC recommends that all schoolchildren should be taught the concepts of CPR, including compressions and ventilations. The actual skills are best taught at different stages. Schoolteachers should teach primary school children in a first stage the BLS skills: CHECK–CALL–COMPRESS. In a second stage, we recommend teaching the skills of ventilation and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED).
3.
Teachers can teach the specifics of CPR to schoolchildren as effectively as healthcare professionals – indeed they are primarily qualified to teach children.
4.
The ERC proposes that the qualification for educating CPR to schoolchildren can be obtained by a four hours CPR “teach the teachers” course.
5.
The ERC recommends the use of commercially available manikins or low-cost manikins for teaching CPR to schoolchildren. To stimulate engagement, new technology applications (e.g. smartphones apps, social media, serious games and virtual reality) as teaching methods are highly useful and recommended.
6.
All schoolteachers should be educated in CPR as part of their curriculum they have to fulfill to become a certified teacher. For every school and/or for every 1000 schoolchildren, we recommend that at least ten teachers should be trained as certified CPR instructors. The school medical service may provide additional support for teaching CPR to schoolchildren and should be involved into the program.
7.
Each school should have at least one teacher and one deputy teacher responsible for sustainable CPR education. They should be the lead of the CPR education in a school driving the program and curriculum integration.
8.
Following schoolchildren CPR education, the ERC recommends that teachers foster learning and dissemination of CPR competences by enabling their schoolchildren to become multipliers. The homework – we suggest in the following two weeks – is to show 10 other people how to do CPR, to write peoples’ names down and to bring this information back to school.
9.
Educating schoolteachers and schoolchildren in CPR will also increase safety in schools, competent help is always available, not only for all schoolchildren, but also for all teachers and other people present.
10.
Saving a life is a child's play. CPR needs only two hands and a bit of competence to save a life. Educating teachers and subsequently schoolchildren in CPR will help to save hundreds of thousands additional lives annually worldwide.
Conflicts of interest
Bernd W. Böttiger is European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Board Director Science and Research; Chairman of the German Resuscitation Council (GRC); Member of the “Advanced Life Support (ALS) Task Force of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR); Member of the executive committee of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI); Associated Editor of the European Journal of Anaesthesiology (EJA), Co-Editor of “Resuscitation”; Editor of the Journal “Notfall + Rettungsmedizin”; Robert T. Greif is ERC Board Director of Training and Education; Chairman of the “Education, Implementation, Team (EIT) Task Force of the ILCOR. Andrew Lockey is Vice President of the Resuscitation Council UK; Koen Monsieurs is Chair-elect of the ERC; Nicolas Mpotos is owner of a company of CPR self-learning and assessment software, ERC Board Member, DC EDU and ERC SEC ALS member; Nikolaos Nikolaou is a Board Member of ERC; Jerry Nolan is Chair of ERC; Editor of Resuscitation and ILCOR ALS Task Force member; Federico Semeraro is BLS SEC Co-Chair of the ERC and member of ILCOR BLS Task Force and ILCOR Digital Communication Working Group; Sabine Wingen is assistant of the Executive Board of the GRC. Marios Georgiou declared no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgement
We cordially thank all schoolchildren, teachers, politicians, medical personnel, colleagues and all others who have been involved in our respective activities over the last years. Several authors are supported by the ERC Research NET.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
The following are the supplementary data to this article:
Board of European Resuscitation Council (ERC). Kids Save Lives - ERC position statement on school children education in CPR.: “Hands that help - Training children is training for life”.
Modularer Lehrerausbildungskurs des Deutschen Rates für Wiederbelebung (GRC) für den Wiederbelebungsunterricht in Schulen–Positionspapier des GRC nach der Empfehlung der Deutschen Kultusministerkonferenz und dem aktuellen GRC-Mustercurriculum.
Long term outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with physician staffed emergency medical services: the Utstein style applied to a midsized urban/suburban area.
Part 1: Executive summary: 2015 international consensus on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care science with treatment recommendations.
Association of national initiatives to improve cardiac arrest management with rates of bystander intervention and patient survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest after standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation or chest compressions only before arrival of emergency medical services: nationwide study during three guideline periods.
Adult basic life support and automated external defibrillation section Collaborators. European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015: Section 2. Adult basic life support and automated external defibrillation.
Education and implementation of resuscitation section Collaborators. European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015: Section 10. Education and implementation of resuscitation.
KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL: a successful pilot program to implement CPR at primary and high schools in Brazil resulting in a state law for a training CPR week.
Self-confidence and level of knowledge after cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in 14 to 18-year-old schoolchildren: a randomised-interventional controlled study in secondary schools in Germany.
Kids save lives: a six-year longitudinal study of schoolchildren learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation: who should do the teaching and will the effects last?.
30158-1&id=gr1.jpg){kind=link}