This story at first blush sounds very altruistic. After all, we want to save lives so that should someone near us be in Cardiac arrest, he or she might be saved. However, CPR has almost never been successful outside of a hospital setting. For good reason.
Someone in Cardiac arrest has 8 minutes. With or without CPR. In fact studies done by
everyone, ambulance services, hospitals, emergency wards, show that if that person is not DEFIBRILLATED within 8 minutes survival rates drop to 5%, and rapidly falls over time. At 10 minutes, you would probably not want to be revived, because the extensive brain damage would be something you never recover from. At 12 minutes, you probably will end up in a vegetated state.
However, all is not lost. CPR is a lousy solution, but the cost of automatic defibrillators are so cheap these days several could be purchased for the price of one CPR dummy. If you think children can be trained to do CPR, then they are certainly able to use an automatic defibrillator. It automatically detects a heart in fibrillation. It automatically employs a discharge appropriately. Kids would just have to know where to put the leads. Far less complex a task that effective CPR.
But CPR is the old stand-by for like what 100 years in various forms? Isn't it time we reassess it? The medical profession has the statistics. They actually know they have just recommended a futile action. Why? Did they need a publicity boost, so looked around for a feel-good?
Isn't it about time, in this modern age, to give kids modern tools that will actually save a life, instead of teaching children a futile action, that makes us feel good about it anyhow? 20 years from now, will they thank us for it?
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