[Effectiveness of practical theoretical teaching in high-school about cardiopulmonary resuscitation.]

Objective: Cardiovascular diseases is one of the most important health problems among population. Most preventable deaths which take place in a context different from the hospital are related to coronary heart diseases. Training the population in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may well result in an increase in the survival rate before a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Methods: An observational study -both prospective and analytical- was conducted through a sample of students in the fourth year of compulsory secondary education. They were divided in two groups: a first group was trained with a theoretical-practical course on CPR, the second group only a theoretical course on CPR. Three surveys on CPR knowledge were conducted, the first one prior to a CPR course, the second one after the course and the third carried out two months after completing it. The results were compared between the three surveys to examine the degree of acquisition and maintenance of knowledge.

Results: 326 students, 213 theoretical-practical group and 113 theoretical group, whose average age was 15.6 years (DE=0.7, R 15-17) and 56% were girls. The average scores of the questionnaires were: 5.1 points (DE=1.8, R 0-10) on first exam, 8.2 points (DE=1.6, R 3-10) on second exam of the theoretical-practical group versus 7.7 points (DE=1.9, R 0-10) of the theoretical group, and 7.2 points (DE=3.8, R 1-10) on third exam. In the first exam, 5.2% of them knew the frequency of chest compressions and ventilations in CPR, improving to 68.1% in the second questionnaire of the theoretical-practical group, and a 79.6% of the theoretical group.

Conclusions: Increased knowledge in cardiopulmonary resuscitation reflect in an increase of 3.1 points of average after the theoretical-practical sessions and in 2.1 points two months later. The theoretical-practical group obtain a better score in the post-course exam (8.2 points) compared to the theoretical group (7.7 points).