Teaching basic life support to school children using medical students and teachers in a 'peer-training' model--results of the 'ABC for life' programme.

BACKGROUND: The 'ABC for life' programme was designed to facilitate the wider dissemination of basic life support (BLS) skills and knowledge in the population. A previous study demonstrated that using this programme 10-12-year olds are capable of performing and retaining these vital skills when taught by medical students. There are approximately 25,000 year 7 school children in 900 primary schools in Northern Ireland. By using a pyramidal teaching approach involving medical students and teachers, there is the potential to train BLS to all of these children each year.

AIMS: To assess the effectiveness of a programme of CPR instruction using a three-tier training model in which medical students instruct primary school teachers who then teach school children.

SETTINGS: School children and teachers in the Western Education and Library Board in Northern Ireland.

METHODS: A course of instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)--the 'ABC for life' programme--specifically designed to teach 10-12-year-old children basic life support skills. Medical students taught teachers from the Western Education and Library Board area of Northern Ireland how to teach basic life support skills to year 7 pupils in their schools. Pupils were given a 22-point questionnaire to assess knowledge of basic life support immediately before and after a teacher led training session.

RESULTS: Children instructed in cardiopulmonary resuscitation using this three-tier training had a significantly improved score following training (57.2% and 77.7%, respectively, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that primary school teachers, previously trained by medical students, can teach BLS effectively to 10-12-year-old children using the 'ABC for life' programme.