While walking to school one day Florida sophomore Jalen Lee came upon a woman who wasn’t breathing. Thanks to training Lee received during his high school’s first aid class he knew just what to do. Lee administered CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and possibly saved the woman’s life. CPR training in high schools has helped countless students around the country save the lives of friends, loved ones, and strangers. Providing CPR training to all students will save even more lives.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), over 350,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of hospitals every year. Every second that a heart doesn’t beat dramatically decreases a person’s survival rate. CPR is a simple way to keep blood pumping through the body until medical personnel arrive. Only 46 percent of cardiac arrest victims receive CPR, primarily because most bystanders don’t have the proper training. Fortunately, schools are in a unique position to greatly improve that statistic.
The AHA has long recommended CPR training for high school students but fewer than thirty states require it. Providing basic CPR training for all students would dramatically increase the number of trained bystanders available to assist in a cardiac arrest emergency.
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Some schools have argued that limited budgets and packed schedules make it difficult to include yet another mandate.
However, basic CPR training is remarkably quick and inexpensive. The AHA has school CPR kits designed to provide training in as little as thirty minutes. One organization, School CPR, even offers free online training. Such resources make it easy for schools to offer CPR as part of their regular physical education curriculum. With over three million public high school students graduating each year that’s a lot of additional trained bystanders available to save
lives.
Williams, B, Jennings, P, Fiedler, C & Ghirardello, A 2013, ‘Next generation paramedics, agents of change, or time for curricula renewal?’, Advances in Medical Education & Practice, vol.4, pp. 225, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S53085
Despite the fact that from May 2009 - February 2010, in Contra Costa County alone, there were 9 sudden cardiac arrests experienced by children and youth, there is no standard curriculum in place at school for youth and their parents to learn lifesaving CPR skills. The youngest was 10 years of age and the oldest was 17, which resulted in 4 deaths and 5 saved lives (Darius Jones Foundation, 2011). In each case, there was a direct correlation between bystander use of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and those children who survived.
Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. Some of the best lessons in life are learned from making a mistake. But in the healthcare world making mistakes means losing lives. This has started to happen so frequently there has been a term coined – Failure to Rescue or FTR. Failure to rescue is a situation in which a patient was starting to deteriorate and it wasn’t noticed or it wasn’t properly addressed and the patient dies. The idea is that doctors or nurses could’ve had the opportunity to save the life of the patient but because of a variety of reasons, didn’t. This paper discusses the concept of FTR, describes ways to prevent it from happening; especially in relation to strokes or cerebrovascular accidents, and discusses the nursing implications involved in all of these factors.
Hammer, L., Vitrat, F., Savary, D., Debaty, G., Santre, C., Durand, M., et al. (2009). Immediate prehospital hypothermia protocol in comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 27(5), 570-573.
Gerritse B. M., Advanced medical life support procedures in vitally compromised children by a helicopter emergency medical service. Emerg Med. 2010; 10: 6. Published online 2010 March 8. doi: 10.1186/1471-227X-10-6
I could write about millions of thing to you, but I would really like to tell you all about my summer break. Don’t get me wrong it was an amazing summer in all but, I just wish I had a little more time with my dad, and a little less time with work. My dad’s been in the navy for about fifteen years, I do believe. He’s been stationed in Maine, Louisiana, Ohio, and now, The Golden State, California.
Imagine finding your child pulse less and not breathing. What a terrifying thought! Would you know how to save your child’s life? The number of parents that do not know CPR is astounding. Simply knowing CPR could make a dramatic difference in the lives of you and your loved ones.
Caring for people is my passion. My senior year of high school is when I witnessed my grandmother live on a ventilator for about a week. It awakened a new level of passion in me to care for people with cardiopulmonary problems. The Respiratory Therapy Care profession has intrigued me with how they improve the quality of life in their patients. I will enjoy working closely with patients in addition to working high tech equipment. By entering into this program and graduating out of this program I know that this will satisfy my personal goals for the next five years in many ways. The continues challenges of trying to figure out what’s wrong the heart that day or what’s wrong with the lung the next day will always keep me on my toes. It will always
After the completion of all required EMT certifications, a person must then register in a paramedic program. Most community colleges have two-year degree programs in paramedic training (EMS1 Staff, 2016). This paramedic training program consists of a combination of classroom and clinical training at hospitals, ambulance companies, and fire departments. Some community colleges in Virginia that offer a paramedic training program include, Northern Virginia, Thomas Nelson, Tidewater, and Patrick Henry (EMT & Paramedic, 2016). Paramedics are required to take anatomy and physiology either through the course program or as a prerequisite.
School is meant to be a safe and secure learning center for students physically and emotionally; however, mandatory P.E. might take away some of that safety. By making P.E. mandatory, students will be forced to put their lives in possible danger daily. It is often thought that P.E. is a positive way to promote healthy lifestyles; however, that is not the case in today’s average P.E. class. According to WebMD, “the number of P.E. injuries has risen 150% from 1997 to 2007. During that time period, it is estimated that 405,305 injuries caused by ph...
I have also, in the past, achieved a 'First Aid' qualification, but plan to renew it in the very near future. This certification process has allowed me to obtain the knowledge to use proper techniques and methods when dealing with emergency situations.
Most AEDs are designed to be used by nonmedical personnel such as police, firefighters, flight attendants, security guards, and other lay rescuers who have been properly trained. Having more people in the community who can respond to a medical emergency by providing defibrillation will greatly increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates.
As you sit in a classroom at the Community College, you may not think that saving a life is something you could do today, but, in fact, it's quite easy to do.
In a pre-hospital setting, there are few moments that are as intense as the events that take place when trying to save a life. Family presence during these resuscitation efforts has become an important and controversial issue in health care settings. Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a relatively new issue in healthcare. Before the advent of modern medicine, family members were often present at the deathbed of their loved ones. A dying person’s last moments were most often controlled by his or her family in the home rather than by medical personnel (Trueman, History of Medicine). Today, families are demanding permission to witness resuscitation events. Members of the emergency medical services are split on this issue, noting benefits but also potentially negative consequences to family presence during resuscitation efforts.
First aid skills and kit is a dire necessity in unfortunate areas prone to accidents and natural calamities. It makes communities aware of the dangers posed to remain prepared for any