Introduction: In developed countries, sudden cardiac arrests account for 20% of all deaths. The key factor for survival is to provide quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as soon as possible. Early defibrillation can also increase the chances of survival. Therefore, we should strive that everyone is familiar with the basics of CPR and the use of AEDs. Such knowledge would increase the chances of survival because laymen are most often the first to be present on site of a cardiac arrest. As children represent a significant part of the population, it is necessary that we increase the awareness and teach children in primary schools about the importance of CPR and the use of AEDs. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the impact of the health education workshop on the theoretical knowledge of primary school pupils about CPR and the use of AEDs. Methods of work: The research was based on a quantitative research approach. We used a 23-question questionnaire that primary school pupils filled out in the period from July to August 2020 as a part of the activities during their holidays spent at Camp Mojca. The pupils were between 9 and 15 years old. The questions were answered before and after the two-hour health education workshop about CPR and the use of AED, which was conducted by nurses from the Health Education Centre from the Novo mesto Health Centre. The results were manually entered in the web program 1KA program and Microsoft Excel 2013 that we used to process and analyse the data. Results: We compared the level of theoretical knowledge about CPR and the use of AED of primary school children before and after the health education workshop. We determined that the level of their knowledge has significantly risen. Discussion and conclusion: In comparison to the results before the health education workshop, pupils have gained a lot of new knowledge during the workshop and the level of their knowledge after the workshop has improved. This shows that the implementation of such workshops/trainings can be extremely effective. Hence, we should start teaching young children, and in such way reach a large part of the population, about the basics of CPR and the use of AEDs, which also everyone else should know. This knowledge would increase the chances of survival of people with sudden cardiac arrests outside the hospital. It is very important to start with CPR as soon as possible and in this way contribute to saving someone’s life because every minute lost without resuscitation reduces the chances of survival.
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