Stephanie Elford, a P2 on the Knoxville campus, was recently informed that the CPR training they provided at the Knoxville Pregnancy Center had a significant and life-saving impact. Elford, an APhA-ASP CPR Vice-Chair in Knoxville, was told that one of the participants in the class actually had to perform CPR on her infant recently and, as a result of her successful CPR training, both mom and baby are doing just fine. “The mother reached out to the Center and expressed how thankful she was that the Center offers these classes,” Elford said.
The UTHSC APhA-ASP CPR Committee trains all UTHSC pharmacy students on American Heart Association (AHA) CPR as incoming P1s, and recertifies them after two years and again before they graduate. The offices of Student Affairs and Experiential Learning require that students entering pharmacy school maintain current CPR certification throughout their time at the UTHSC College of Pharmacy. Only AHA CPR instructors can train others to be CPR providers, so students apply for and are chosen during an application process in their P1 year to become a CPR instructor.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, and patients with CVD are at higher risk of sudden cardiac death. Effective bystander CPR can double a victim’s chance of survival. UTCOP CPR instructors want to ensure that persons in communities across the state can recognize and quickly respond to a potential cardiac arrest by notifying emergency medical services (EMS), providing high quality chest compressions, and using an automated external defibrillator (AED). The UTHSC ASP CPR Committee initiated the UTHSC campus AED Program in 2011 and, since then, has seen the installation of over 50 AEDs in buildings across campus as well as in UTHSC police cars.
Dr. Kelly Rogers, PharmD, BCCP, FCCP, FACC, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science and UTHSC Campus AED Coordinator and Course Director of CPR, is an instructor for AHA basic life support (BLS) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS). She is also the UTHSC College of Pharmacy AHA Training Site Faculty and teaches the AHA CPR Instructor Course each year to approximately 22 new instructors who provide CPR training on all three COP campuses. These new CPR instructors are also enrolled into the CPR elective over three semesters, requirements of which include outreach and teaching CPR to laypersons in communities across the state of Tennessee. The goal is to train as many people as possible the lifesaving skills of CPR.
Rogers expressed how proud she was of her CPR instructors who teach these important skills to as many people in the community as they can, often for organizations that are less able to afford training. “They are reaching hundreds of people throughout Tennessee each year. We very often do not realize the impact we make when we teach CPR, but this time we did,” said Rogers.
