Should teachers be CPR certified?

[ShortFuse_LPN, LPN]

I was wondering if any of you think that teachers should be certified in CPR. A little girl in a neighboring town died last month while at school. My friend, who is a paramedic, said that chances are the girl would have lived if CPR had been initiated before the ambulance arrived. As a parent, this worries me. I am considering going to the next school board meeting to bring this concern to the attention of the board members. Do any of you agree with me?

I would also like to hear from anyone who doesn't agree.

[PowerPuffGirl]

I'm actually kind of surprised to hear that they aren't. I guess I had always assumed they were.

- C.

[deespoohbear]

I think teachers should be certified in CPR and basic first aid. So should a lot of other people who deal with groups of people for a living. Just makes common sense.

[Brownms46]

I'm also surprised that teacher aren't certified in CPR and First Aid. Geeze you would think they were with all the events of recent in the schools. Sorry to hear about the lost of the child though:o

[nurse-in-boots]

I think they should, just like our day care providers. too bad the school district is in such a slump that they are laying off teachers, and making class sizes bigger, and asking the public to donate paper and crayons and other supplies, that getting the funding to certify these teachers will be impossible.

[susanmary]

The question should be WHO, at that school, was CPR trained? Usually the school nurse, gym teacher, etc. are required at the very least. Personally, I think it would be ideal if all teachers were required to maintain CPR validation -- perhaps bring in the instructors for a CEU day -- who knows. The bigger picture is why WASN'T CPR initiated? Very sad.

[sjoe]

"I'm actually kind of surprised to hear that they aren't. I guess I had always assumed they were. "

Me too, but thinking about it, if they are obligated to be certified, I can picture the attorneys chasing ambulances of ANY kid who becomes ill and/or dies in the classroom, since the teacher is duty bound to "save" them.

[deespoohbear]

Originally posted by susanmary

The question should be WHO, at that school, was CPR trained? Usually the school nurse, gym teacher, etc. are required at the very least. Personally, I think it would be ideal if all teachers were required to maintain CPR validation -- perhaps bring in the instructors for a CEU day -- who knows. The bigger picture is why WASN'T CPR initiated? Very sad.

Sad thing too that most schools don't have a nurse full time in each building. Our small school system has three buildings...an elementary school, a middle school, and a combined junior-senior high school One nurse is responsible for all these buildings..

I know that a lot of the school systems in Indiana have cut way back on nurses or eliminated them entirely. Scary stuff. The nursing duties are then left to an already overworked school secretary and principal.

[KaraLea, LVN]

YES, I agree completely. I thought they allready were...

[sr moore, BSN, RN]

I wonder who in our schools is trained in cpr. Our School district has a possibility of losing 15 million ,and we have only 3 nurses for 20,000+ students. A recomendation was passed to lay off 2 1/2 nurses. We will see what happens next school year!

[Darlene K.]

Yes!

[fab4fan]

We are expecting teachers to be psychologists, social workers, cops, parents, and teach somewhere in between.

Adding another responsibility like CPR just increases their liability. I agree, it would bring out the ambulance chasers. Then what next...since nurses are being cut back, what will the next medical task be that will be relegated to the teachers.