Bay Area Children’s Hospital is New Home to American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR Training Kiosk

Interactive machine teaches life-saving skill to public in 5 minutes

For release: February 26, 2021

STANFORD, Calif. – Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford received a Hands-Only CPR training kiosk to teach CPR basics to patients and visitors. The kiosk is funded by the Harriman family of Saratoga and donated to the hospital by the American Heart Association—the world’s leading voluntary health organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular disease.

“Providing access to the Hands-Only CPR training kiosk in our hospital is meant to help expand awareness and provide practice of this valuable life-saving skill that can make a difference in saving the lives of Bay Area residents and beyond,” said Lynda Knight, MSN, RN, nurse-educator and program director of the Revive Initiative for Resuscitation Excellence at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.

According to the American Heart Association, each year more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital, about 20 percent of them in public places. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or even triple the victim’s chance of survival. Yet less than half of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims receive CPR from a bystander.

New kiosk teaches CPR to all

The kiosk has a touch screen with a short video that provides an overview of Hands-Only CPR, followed by a practice session and a 30-second test. With the help of a practice manikin, or a rubber torso, the kiosk gives feedback about the depth and rate of compressions, as well as proper hand placement—factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR. Kiosk visitors can select to do the training in English or Spanish. The training also has closed captioning to make the instruction available to everyone.

The kiosk will be maintained in accordance with current health standards and there is a free-standing dispenser of wipes installed next to the kiosk so that each user can wipe it down before and after using it as instructed.

“Every second counts when a person suffers a cardiac arrest, which is why bystander CPR must start immediately until professional help arrives,” said Kenneth Mahaffey, MD., president of the Bay Area American Heart Association and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. “But bystanders may be reluctant to perform CPR because of lack of training or fear. The kiosks will help the public acquire a comfort level with performing chest compressions without the stress of an actual medical emergency, so they’ll feel empowered to spring into action if they witness a cardiac emergency.”

The CPR Training Kiosk is located on the first floor of the main building, across from the Harvest Café. There are an additional 44 kiosks across the United States with 10 kiosks located in California. More than 300,330 people have been trained across all the kiosks.

Media Contact

Elizabeth Valente
media@stanfordchildrens.org
(650) 269-5401