Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: Heart rhythms

25 minutes

Part B: What to do in an emergency

15 minutes

Part C: Be a first-aid action hero

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will..

the mechanics of a cardiac arrest and the functional impact on the heart
how to approach an emergency scenario using the steps of DRSABCD, and the justifications behind this approach.

Students can...

analyse cardiac rhythms to determine the function of a heartbeat
use critical and creative thinking to apply this knowledge to evaluate an abnormal rhythm leading to an emergency cardiac event
explain the steps taken and information to be provided during a Triple Zero emergency call
explain the steps taken to assess and provide assistance during an emergency medical situation
demonstrate the process for dealing with an emergency medical situation using the DRSABCD method.

Lesson preparation:

Ensure you have enough student devices and download the First Aid Action Hero App prior to the lesson. You may need to seek permission/support from your school administrator to install apps on shared devices.

Part A: Heart rhythms

Step 1

Facilitate a discussion about heart attacks. You might use the following questions to prompt students.

What do we think is meant by the term heart attack?
Can there be different kinds of heart attacks?
What are the warning signs of a heart attack?
What is happening when a person is experiencing a heart attack?

Bear in mind that some students in your class may have had personal experience with traumatic emergency situations related to heart health issues, first aid CPR, accidents or death.

In some situations, these students may want to share their experiences and learnings, but in others, they might prefer to sit out as this topic may be difficult for them.

Please review the Handling Sensitive Topics and Issues factsheet for information on how to create a safe environment for your students and monitor all students during and after conducting this lesson. If you're aware of any students who may struggle with this content, chat with their parents or caregivers about a strategy for this child prior to the lesson.

Step 2

Play:

What is a heart attack? (youtube.com/watch?v=p6RJvWMgy5w)

Explain to students that for the heart to function properly, it needs a good blood supply. A heart attack occurs when a coronary artery, which supplies blood to the heart, becomes blocked. This stops the blood flow and reduces the amount of oxygen that gets to your heart muscle. This causes the heart muscle to start to die, reducing its capacity to pump blood around the body.

It’s important to get to a hospital quickly to receive treatment to reduce the damage to the heart muscle.

Heart attacks are not always as sudden or severe as the movies would have us believe. Many start slowly with only mild pain or discomfort. Some people do not get any chest pain at all - only discomfort in other parts of their upper body.

Find out more about heart attacks or refer to this brochure on the warnings signs of a heart attack.

Step 3

Display this image of an electrocardiogram (ECG) reading for the class.

Explain to students that an ECG is a medical test that measures the electrical activity generated by the heart as it contracts. Each large spike is what we would commonly know as a ‘heartbeat’ - the ventricle chambers at the bottom of the heart are squeezing tight and pumping blood out into the body.

This particular rhythm is called a sinus rhythm. This rhythm is commonly considered a ‘regular’ heartbeat.
People can sometimes have a bradycardia, which is a slower than normal resting rhythm, or a tachycardia, which is faster than a normal resting rhythm.

Step 4

Show students how to use your pointer finger and middle finger together to find their pulse. First, put your fingers over your throat in the middle of your neck just below your chin. Then move them to the left. You should feel a hollow just beneath your jaw and to the left of your oesophagus where the pulse beats strongly. This is your carotid artery. It supplies blood to your brain and head.

Every time you can feel a pulse, this is the ventricles of the heart contracting and pumping blood through the artery. The ECG measures the electrical activity of this contraction through pads and wires connected to a patient’s chest, and ‘writes’ these waves for doctors to review.

Step 5

Display this image next. Ask students to hypothesise what they think is happening to this patient’s heart to cause such an ECG reading.

Step 6

Explain to students that this rhythm is known as ventricular fibrillation. This is just one kind of ‘heart attack’ a person can experience. During ventricular fibrillation, the two lower chambers of the heart do not contract strongly enough and are unable to pump blood out of the heart and around the body. The heart ‘stops’ beating and the patient has a weak or no pulse. A defibrillation machine is required to shock the heart back into pumping, though not all heart attacks require treatment in this way.

Part B: What to do in an emergency

Step 1

Facilitate a discussion about emergency situations. You might use the following questions to prompt students.

Do you know what to do if you come across someone in medical difficulty?
When might you call Triple Zero?
Should you always call Triple Zero?
What kind of information should you have to give to the emergency call operator?
Do you know what address you’re currently at?
Where would you tell an ambulance to pull up? The front door is sometimes not the best option for a large vehicle.

Explain to the students that the staff at Triple Zero will ask a set series of questions and it's good to be familiar with what these questions are so that you can be prepared in the event of an emergency.

Step 2

Play:

What to expect when you call Triple Zero (000) (youtube.com/watch?v=bSfyu9Ri4n0)

Step 3

Review the information the emergency phone operator may ask of you:

Do you want Police, Fire or Ambulance?
What is the exact address or location of the emergency?
What is the phone number you are calling from?
What is the problem? What exactly happened?
How many people are hurt?
How old is the person?
Is the person conscious (awake)?
Is the person breathing?

You can learn more about calling Triple Zero here.

Step 4

Ensure all students have access to a device and invite them to investigate the DRSABCD process using the links below. Explain that they will need to take notes because they will be creating a poster or video explaining the DRSABCD method to show their understanding.

You might prefer to watch the video as a class and print out the article to provide to students.

Watch:

DRSABCD action plan explained! | Education | St John WA (youtube.com/watch?v=yBDk_dlzvaQ)

Read:

7 Words That Will Save A Life – The DRSABCD (stjohnvic.com.au/news/7-words-will-save-life-drsabcd/)

Step 5

Students can now create their poster or video explaining the DRSABCD method.

Part C: Be a first-aid action hero

Step 1

Ensure all students have access to a device (tablet or phone) with the First Aid Action Hero App already downloaded. You may need to have students share a device depending on how many you have available.

Independently, students can work through the St John Ambulance First Aid Action Hero practice game for DRSABCD.

Step 2

Explain to students you are now going to run a real-world simulation of a first-aid response scenario.

Invite one student to act as an unconscious patient on the floor. Assure the student that they will not receive any actual CPR.
Nominate another student to act as the proxy first responder. The rest of the class will assist and guide this student’s actions.
Ask students what the first step of the first responder should be.
Ask students what dangers might injure the patient further or prevent the patient from being seen to.
Examples of possible dangers might include a gas leak, traffic or an electrical cable in a pool of water.
Ask students how they might mitigate the dangers. Should the patient be moved to a different location? Why or why not?
Usually, first responders avoid moving the patient in case of exacerbating a spinal injury. The exception would be if the patient is in more immediate danger, such as in a car that was catching fire.
If safe to enter the space, the first responder checks the unconscious patient, calling their name and squeezing their shoulder.
Invite a handful of students to practise sending for help, and describe what they would report to the Triple Zero phone operator. Students can refer back to the list of questions in Part B, Step 3.
Have students talk through how to manage the patient’s airways and breathing and how to place them in the recovery position. Invite the first responder to place the unconscious student into the recovery position.
You might like to have a few students practise this or they can work in pairs to practise on each other.

Students SHOULD NOT perform CPR or chest compressions on a conscious victim for risk of hurting them.

Reflection

Acknowledge that sometimes it can be scary having to deal with an emergency situation. Coping with the trauma of being a first responder is an often overlooked aspect of the process.

Invite students to sit or stand in a circle and point to the places in their bodies where they might feel different emotions in an emergency situation. Have them name these emotions and physical effects.

Explain to students that if they ever need help dealing with any feelings that come out of having to deal with an emergency situation (or any other life situations), there are places they can turn to for help. Share the phone numbers from this Handling Sensitive Topics and Issues factsheet and remind students of any in-school or community support available to them. Invite students to think about who else they might be able to seek help or support from and write these contacts down in their notebooks.

Differentiated learning

Extension

You might like to invite a St John Ambulance or state Ambulance/Paramedic to your school to talk more about their job or how to respond to emergency situations. Trainers in first aid can provide dummies for students to practise CPR safely.

Provisions for learning support

The theory behind heartbeats and cardiac arrests featured in Part A may be challenging for some students. They may find more utility in Parts B and C, which teaches practical skills and gives experience in how to respond to emergency situations.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Jump Rope For Heart - Rhythm of My Heart

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