Mandatory CPR Training in U.S. High Schools

The number of U.S. states mandating cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training as a requirement for graduation from high school is rapidly increasing. Such requisite CPR training in high school now involves 21 states and more than one million high school students annually. Although students may opt out, parental consent is required to do so, compelling the majority of high school students to learn the basic techniques of CPR. We believe this widespread implementation of CPR training has many benefits to high school students and the broader U.S. public. High school students are well-positioned to improve rates of bystander CPR initiation in the United States, and their engagement could reduce deep disparities in regional rates of survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest through early initiation of bystander CPR. Imagine what could happen if CPR training was required in all of the more than 37,000 high schools in the United States.