• Santiago Martínez-Isasi, Cristian Abelairas-Gómez, María Pichel-López, Roberto Barcala-Furelos, Cristina Varela-Casal, David Vázquez-Santamariña, Luis Sánchez-Santos, and Antonio Rodríguez-Núñez.
• Grupo de investigación CLINURSID, Departamento de Psiquiatría, Radiología y Salud Pública, Enfermería y Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España; Grupo de Soporte Vital y Simulación Médica, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Santiago de Compostela, España; Facultad de Enfermería, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España.
• An Pediatr (Engl Ed). 2020 Nov 5.

ObjectiveTo quantitatively assess the learning capacity of school children aged between 8-12 years in basic life support (theory and practice) after a feasible school training programme.Material And MethodsQuasi-experimental study with a convenience sample of 567 pupils in 3rd, 5th and 1st year of Primary Education, and Compulsory Secondary Education, respectively, from 3 public schools in Galicia. They received 2h (one theoretical and another practical) of basic life support training by their Physical Education teachers, as part of the school program. The children were evaluated by a theoretical test and a practical skill test that measured the quality of chest compressions, and assessed the performance of the basic life support sequence.ResultsThe level of knowledge increased with respect to the baseline, and was higher in the higher grades (P<.001). The complete basic life support sequence was carried out by 16.5% of pupils in the 3rd year of Primary Education, 54.4% of pupils in the 5th year of Primary Education, and 28.5% of pupils in the 1st year of Secondary Education (P=.030). The following compression quality parameters improved significantly with age: continuity of compressions (P<.001), percentage of compressions performed at correct depth (P=.002), and median depth (P<.001), while the percentage of compressions with correct decompression decreased significantly (P<.001).ConclusionsAlthough their anthropometric characteristics may not allow them to achieve the ideal quality of this manoeuvre, a 2-h theoretical and practical training programme, taught by Physical Education teachers, helps to improve the ability of children younger than 13 years-old to recognise the emergency, start the chain of survival, and initiate chest compressions.Copyright © 2020. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.

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