{"id":7132,"date":"2012-06-06T10:56:18","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T20:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=7132"},"modified":"2021-04-09T14:44:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T00:44:40","slug":"medical-professor-promoting-stayin-alive-cpr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2012\/06\/06\/medical-professor-promoting-stayin-alive-cpr\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical professor promoting Stayin\u2019 Alive CPR<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Alson Inaba, center, with Tom Elowsen, left, who used Inaba’s technique to save the life of Tom Maimone, right (photo courtesy of the John A. Burns School of Medicine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

National CPR<\/abbr> Awareness Week kicked off on June 5 in New York City with a Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> medical school teaching innovation packaged up and presented with Hollywood flair. Alson Inaba<\/strong>, a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> professor and physician, was part of an elaborate media event in New York City that featured dancers in all-white disco-era suits, like the one John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever<\/em>, and mass demonstrations of the disco-derived CPR<\/abbr> teaching technique that Inaba created in a JABSOM<\/abbr> classroom seven years ago. <\/p>\n

The American Heart Association<\/a> National CPR<\/abbr> Week Kick-Off recognized Inaba for creating the Stayin’ Alive or hands-only method, which has become a life-saving phenomenon. AHA<\/abbr> has adopted the Bee Gees’ hit and Inaba’s technique in international video public service announcements and uses the Travolta-suit logo as a key element of its CPR<\/abbr> public education campaign.<\/p>\n

“I still cannot fully comprehend how my one little idea of using the beats in the tune Stayin’ Alive<\/em> to teach the correct rates for chest compression has exploded worldwide,” said Inaba. <\/p>\n

During the kick-off event, Inaba met a man who was saved by his teaching method. Tom Maimone suffered cardiac arrest in April 2009. He was revived by Tom Elowsen, who had never taken a CPR<\/abbr> lesson but had seen a news segment about the Stayin’ Alive<\/em> technique a few months earlier. <\/p>\n

“I’m glad that lives are being saved and that this easy-to-remember technique of performing CPR<\/abbr> is giving more and more people the confidence to perform CPR<\/abbr> on victims of sudden cardiac arrest,” said Inaba. <\/p>\n

How the Stayin’ Alive<\/em> method was born<\/h2>\n

Inaba came up with the concept of using Stayin’ Alive<\/em> to liven up a learning session at JABSOM<\/abbr> in 2005. <\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t like boring presentations, so I created a skit in which one student walked up onto the stage and suddenly collapsed. Then a group of MD medical trainees, sporting dark glasses, gold chains and a boom box blaring Stayin’ Alive<\/em> rushed up to the stage to perform CPR<\/abbr>,” said Inaba. <\/p>\n

“My teaching point was ‘let’s do everything we can to help this guy stay alive.‘ That got me to thinking about the beat of Stayin’ Alive<\/em>, which has about 100 beats per minute— the same rate the AHA<\/abbr> recommends for CPR<\/abbr> chest compressions.” <\/p>\n

JABSOM<\/abbr> medical students practiced on robot patients, and before long, “they were humming and strutting releasing their inner John Travolta,” Inaba said. <\/p>\n

Adated from John A. Burns School of Medicine news release<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n