Bystander CPR eModule now available on myCourses

In October 2020, a team of interprofessional health care students from the McGill Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences coordinated the McGill World Restart a Heart 2020 Campaign (WRAH) as part of a global initiative to increase public awareness and rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

They created an innovative digital campaign that leveraged social media to reach over 500,000 people through high-impact videos and messaging. This initiative has empowered individuals across Canada by giving them the tools and knowledge to initiative life-saving CPR in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality of cardiac arrests.

Collaborating with TLS to reach a larger audience

Their efforts are ongoing. In collaboration with Teaching and Learning Services (TLS), the McGill WRAH 2020 Campaign Team has created a user-friendly virtual bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) eModule on the McGill myCourses delivery platform.

This short 20-minute module aims to engage and enable the community to enhance their resuscitation knowledge and skills from the convenience of their home with the guidance, encouragement, and expertise of expert resuscitation physicians and sudden cardiac arrest survivors.

“TLS began partnering with the student-led WRAH initiative in 2019 when it was campus-based to help inform students about this life-saving learning opportunity. When the pandemic moved WRAH online, we were happy to support developing a resource to provide McGill students with a virtual equivalent within our Learning Management System. As we have the infrastructure in place that allows us to give access to people outside McGill, extending the reach of this important McGill student initiative was a logical next step. TLS is proud to support the WRAH team in this critically important educational initiative,” says Laura Winer, Director of TLS.

Élodie Chamass and Alexa Ehlebracht, both third-year medical students in the McGill Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, led the content development of this project.

“As future physicians, we are so proud to have been a part of the creation of this eModule, which we truly believe will make a difference in how people view CPR and sudden cardiac arrest. Our hope is that participants will enjoy the eModule and will feel more comfortable performing CPR after completing it. Ultimately, we hope that this allows participants to have the confidence to perform CPR if ever they witness a sudden cardiac arrest. It only takes a couple of minutes to learn CPR and to complete the eModule, but it can make a huge difference, and can actually save someone's life,” say Élodie and Alexa.

This free module is open to all and available in both French and English. Click here to register for this course, and please share widely within your community.