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RESEARCH: Ian Jones, Richard Whitfield, Michael Colquhoun, Douglas Chamberlain, Norman Vetter, and Robert Newcombe At what age can schoolchildren provide effective chest compressions? An observational study from the Heartstart UK schools training programme BMJ 2007; 334: 1201 [Abstract] [Full text]

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Size matters!

Danny Chin Lim   (12 June 2007)

It is a good idea to teach Basic LIfe Support to school children

Tom D R Burrows   (15 June 2007)

Size matters! 12 June 2007
Danny Chin Lim, SHO North Middlesex Hospital, London N18 1QX Send response to journal: Re: Size matters!	Anybody who has performed chest compressions in real life knows that they can be exhausting. I've seen even the biggest and strongest of paramedics get exhausted, particularly after a long journey to hospital with an "arrested" patient. I very much doubt if their compressions are effective by the time they reach hospital! Just because school children are not capable of giving effective chest compressions doesn't mean that they shoudln't learn the basics of life support. Most will grow! Besides, there are many doctors & nurses I've seen at work who aren't much bigger than school children in weight or stature. Perhaps a weight & height cut-off would be more logical to determine suitability for performing chest compression. Competing interests: None declared
It is a good idea to teach Basic LIfe Support to school children 15 June 2007
Tom D R Burrows, Foundation Year 2 Emergency Department, Salisbury District Hospital. SP2 8BJ Send response to journal: Re: It is a good idea to teach Basic LIfe Support to school children	It is important to remember that Basic Life Support is not purely a case of chest compressions. Children may not be strong enough to perform compressions, but may still be more than capable of opening an airway. They can understand how and when to call 999. They are also taught from an early age the importance of knowing Basic Life Support. Many medical schools now have a scheme to train medical students to teach Basic Life Support to school children. This has been set up by Medsin (an international network of medical students which sets up and oversees many health promotion initiatives). I was a former coordinator of the Southampton University Medical School branch of the scheme, working with Heartstart. My experience of teaching children these important skills is that they are generally enthusiastic, keen to learn, and often capable of more than we give them credit for. Competing interests: None declared