Could Primary School Children Learn CPR?

What is the minimum age someone is allowed to perform CPR? The answer to that question is that there is no real minimum age. There have been heroic stories over the years of even primary school children delivering the lifesaving technique.

Of course there are physical and emotional constraints that could prevent young children from performing CPR, but at the same time anything they do to help is considered a bonus.

The Concept

Primary school children are typically 6-11 years in age. They are very young and learning the basics of life. Serious and confusing subjects like first aid are not contained within the school syllabus. However we know that young children have performed CPR so they must have picked up the skills elsewhere eg watching a movie.

These could also come from extra curricular first aid classes, which are designed to be fun and to allow children to practice in small groups. They are not assessed in any way, and the whole concept is to raise awareness of the topic.

Constraints

The physical demands of CPR is the biggest constraint for a young child performing the action. Chest compressions are extremely demanding and it is not uncommon for even adults to struggle with this action.

The other main constraint would be their knowledge. Primary school children will almost certainly not fully understand the concept of cardiac arrest. Apart from some basic practical lessons they would also not of studied the subject area.

Real Life Example

Of course there are exceptions to the above rule. One real life example is the story of Dimitri Meram - who is the equivalent of a year four student in the United States. In a freak accident his mother was knocked unconscious when getting out of the family car.

Luckily Dimitri had recently been taught CPR by the American Heart Association at his school. Dimitri used his newfound skills to help save the life of his mother whilst awaiting the arrival of the ambulance. It’s a truly heroic effort for someone under the age of nine.

Potentially even more amazing is the story of Jacob O'Connor who found his younger brother floating in the family pool. Jacob had recently watched the film San Andreas and seen actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson perform CPR on a drowning boy.

He simply copied what he had seen on the big screen and was able to get his little brother to cough up water and to start breathing again.

These and other similar stories go some way to proving that primary school children are capable of performing CPR. Hopefully many more lives will be saved in the future.