Hospital staff teach life-saving CPR for inaugural ‘CPR’athon’

Date: 14 October 2019

CPR for web

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has staged a ‘CPR’athon’ to help raise awareness and highlight the importance of life-saving Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training ahead of ‘World Restart a Heart Day’ on Wednesday 16 October 2019.

The Trust’s inaugural ‘CPR’athon’ was held at Medway Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and included a range of staff competing in teams over 10 minute rounds of continuous chest compressions using the latest hi-tech manikins.

The teams were assessed by the technology built into the manikins, which measured the depth, rate and recoil of their CPR against the current Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines, giving a final percentage of overall effectiveness.

The final of the competition saw staff from the Trust’s Acute Response Team crowned the overall winners with a score of 98.64 per cent.

Tamara Stephens, Senior Resuscitation Officer at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said:

‘’We were delighted to showcase this important, life-saving training which is run for our staff and the local community in Medway and Swale.

‘’It was great to see the involvement of so many of our colleagues, from both clinical and non-clinical areas. It certainly helped boost morale and encouraged some healthy competition!’’

Jamie Morrison, Resuscitation Officer at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, added:

‘’Across the UK, there are over 30,000 cardiac arrests outside of hospital every year, with less than 1 in 10 people surviving. This training is vital - we know that when we deliver good-quality CPR the outcomes for patients is much better.

‘’It might seem like a daunting thing to do but it’s not complicated, and the reality is you can literally save someone’s life with good CPR. We want to encourage everybody to learn how to carry out this basic life-saving technique.’’

The event was also open to the local public, and included dedicated training sessions for non-clinical staff and local students from Mid Kent College. 

  • Summary:

    Medway NHS Foundation Trust has staged a ‘CPR’athon’ to help raise awareness and highlight the importance of life-saving Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training ahead of ‘World Restart a Heart Day’ on Wednesday 16 October 2019.