Purpose: Τo evaluate the level of theoretical
knowledge, willingness to perform
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and active
skills of Greek secondary school students on the
subject of Basic life Support before and after a
“Kids Save Lives” program.
Material – Method: Data collection took place on
the academic period of 2017-2018 and was
performed in secondary schools of Thessaly’s
region. A total of 2408 students (52.2% female,
mean age 14.7 years) participated on the “Kids
save Lives” program according to the European
Resuscitation Council (ERC) and World Health
Organization (WHO) statement. A 12-question
questionnaire was answered by the students
before and after the “kid saves lives” program,
while practical skills were evaluated on manikins
by experienced ERC Basic Life Support (BLS)
Instructors. The answers were evaluated and a
total percentage of the correct answers were
calculated. All questions had the same impact on
the total.
Results: The training improved significantly the
theoretical knowledge regarding
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), with the
percentage of correct answers being 48.44% and
81.36%, before and after the course respectively
(p<0.001). The increase on the percentage of
correct answers both before and after the courses between different school grades was linear
with the highest increase being recorded on the C
Lyceum Grade (Final Secondary School Grade) as it is
shown on the chart. The participants willingness to
perform bystander CPR significantly increased after
the completion of the course (92.3% before to 96.9%
after, p<0.001). Regarding knowledge on theoretical
questions, only 25% of the participants could
recognize CA as a threshold, with that percentage
reaching 69% at the end of the course (p<0.001).
More than 70% of the students answered correctly 8
of the 11 questions after the completion of the 2hr
course. Almost all of the participants (98.9%) could
recognize the correct position near the victim and
91% performed chin lift maneuver and recognized
cardiac arrest. More than 90% of the students
performed chest compressions on the correct
position by placing their hands on the center of the
chest, as was shown by their instructors.
75% of the participants performed adequate chest
compressions, whereas 25% did not reach the desired
compression depth of 5 to 6 cm. This can be
attributed to the physical effort needed and was
statistically verified with the male participants being
more effective [84.2% and 65.4% of the male and
female students, respectively performed acceptable
chest compression (p<0.001)]. Almost 90% of the
students had the desired compression rhythm. The
physique of the participants also played a key role
with the male students having better results (p<0.05).
Conclusions: The overall results strongly depict the
benefits of “Kids Save Lives” program by improving the
theoretical knowledge, the practical skills and the
attitude of Greek students towards CPR and indicate
the necessity of implementation in a greater scale
nationwide

8 - The impact of “Kids Save Lives” program on Knowledge, skills and attitude of Greek students