CPR Requirement in Schools

The American Heart Association and Red Cross have been pushing schools to require CPR certification for graduation. This should be considered a good thing right? This way, more kids will be prepared in an emergency. While I agree that this is an excellent requirement to have, in some schools, the amount of instruction is increasingly below what is needed in order to retain all of the information and to be fully prepared in an actual emergency.

                At John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, the CPR requirement was put into effect at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. The school has built in days in the regular gym classes for the CPR training and has offered extra classes after school on half days. The classes however, are only twenty minutes long and students that have attended have even reported finishing early. The first thought might be that maybe they are just really good instructors. How hard would it be to teach a simple task like CPR? It is only a few compressions and breaths in a particular ratio varying  on the age of the victim and amount of rescuers performing the rescue. Students would only have to learn to assess the situation before performing a task, checking for head and spinal injuries and a safe environment, then beginning with checking for a victim's response only after putting on their gloves. If there is no response, they would need to check the victim's ABC's; airway, breathing, and circulation. If there is a pulse the rescuers would need to go straight into the respiratory breathing, making sure to tilt the head back and letting the chest rise; if the chest rises continue breathing making sure to check the ABC's every two minutes and if the victim's pulse stops at anytime, they would then need to start compressions. If there was no pulse at the beginning of the evaluation, the rescuer would need to go straight into CPR and perform thirty compressions for every two breaths, sinking the compressions in two inches every time. If the victim is a child or infant, the ratio would switch to fifteen compressions for every two breaths sinking in one and one-half inches in the case of two people performing the rescue (If there is only one person performing the rescue the ratio would stay with the thirty to two ratio but still sink in one and a half inches.) After learning these simple steps the instructor would need to go into a bit more detail and explain the specific situations in the case of choking, strokes, heart attacks, the recovery position that would be used in the case of vomiting, and also explain how and when to use the AED.

                There is no way that someone could retain and understand that information in twenty or less minutes. There is of course a slim possibility that they might remember the steps perfectly, but again that chance is very slim. I am a certified lifeguard and I know from experience how much practice and repetition it takes to be actually prepared for an emergency. I have spent hours reviewing CPR and I still don't know if I would be completely prepared if someone stopped breathing in front of me. As stated earlier, CPR certification is a fantastic addition to the graduation requirement in schools. However, the CPR training should be taught for a longer period of time and should be refreshed throughout the school year. (583)