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Cardiovascular medicine
Research
Basic life support education in secondary schools: a cross-sectional survey in London, UK
  1. Justin D Salciccioli1,
  2. Dominic C Marshall1,
  3. Mark Sykes1,
  4. Alexander D Wood1,
  5. Stephanie A Joppa1,
  6. Madhurima Sinha1,
  7. P Boon Lim2
  1. 1Imperial College London, London, UK
  2. 2Department of Cardiology, Hammersmith Hospital, London UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr P Boon Lim; p.b.lim{at}imperial.ac.uk

Abstract

Objectives Basic life support (BLS) training in schools is associated with improved outcomes from cardiac arrest. International consensus statements have recommended universal BLS training for school-aged children. The current practice of BLS training in London schools is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess current practices of BLS training in London secondary schools.

Setting, population and outcomes A prospective audit of BLS training in London secondary schools was conducted. Schools were contacted by email, and a subsequent telephone interview was conducted with staff familiar with local training practices. Response data were anonymised and captured electronically. Universal training was defined as any programme which delivers BLS training to all students in the school. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the results.

Results A total of 65 schools completed the survey covering an estimated student population of 65 396 across 19 of 32 London boroughs. There were 5 (8%) schools that provide universal training programmes for students and an additional 31 (48%) offering training as part of an extracurricular programme or chosen module. An automated external defibrillator (AED) was available in 18 (28%) schools, unavailable in 40 (61%) and 7 (11%) reported their AED provision as unknown. The most common reasons for not having a universal BLS training programme are the requirement for additional class time (28%) and that funding is unavailable for such a programme (28%). There were 5 students who died from sudden cardiac arrest over the period of the past 10 years.

Conclusions BLS training rates in London secondary schools are low, and the majority of schools do not have an AED available in case of emergency. These data highlight an opportunity to improve BLS training and AEDs provision. Future studies should assess programmes which are cost-effective and do not require significant amounts of additional class time.

  • cardiopulmonary resuscitation
  • automatic external defibrillator
  • education
  • cardiac arrest

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011436

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JDS and PBL were responsible for project design and survey development. ADW was responsible for acquiring survey contact information. DCM, MCS, SJ and MS were responsible for primary survey data collection. JDS, DCM and MCS were responsible for data analysis and PBL for interpretation of results. All authors contributed to the first draft of the manuscript and have reviewed the final version before submission.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.