Women Less Likely to Receive CPR

We are involved in an interesting discussion on Twitter today and just have to share it.

According to a study published by the European Society of Cardiology in March this year, women less likely to receive basic life support for cardiac arrest from the public. THAT’S SHOCKING!

While one point raised in the discussion was that bystanders might believe that women are too fragile to have CPR performed on them, we see this very differently: in our role as first aid instructors, when running courses for the general public, we see many more women register and participate than men. Meaning, they KNOW how to recognise cardiac arrest and they know how to perform CPR. This is not a feminist issue but may be an issue of ignorance? Whatever the reasons are, we MUST change this.

When was the last time (or have you ever?) you took a CPR course? Would you be able to recognise when a person is suffering from cardiac arrest? Have you heard of sudden cardiac arrest? Do you know that young athletes are at a particular risk? Do you know what a defibrillator is and how it works? Is your workplace equipped with defibrillators? Do you actually know where they are? Would you use one?

So many questions – we answer them in all our Basic Life Support (CPR and AED) Courses. Learning the theory is not enough, learn to save a life means putting your hands on a manikin and practice CPR because EVERYONE should know how to perform CPR because EVERYONE CAN LEARN TO SAVE A LIFE.

If you want to follow this and other discussions on Twitter, you can find us at twitter.com/HealthyASafe

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Luitgard Holzleg

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