Medichill

While today we celebrate International Women’s Day and all the great achievements of women. We also feel that today is the perfect time to highlight an area where women are being let down…. Did you know that women are less likely than men to receive CPR from a bystander and ultimately reducing their chances of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest.

The research published by the American Heart Association points towards several reasons, including the fear of causing physical harm to a female patient and the fear of accusations of inappropriate behaviour or touching when performing CPR.

Does this come down to a lack of education and training? Perhaps we need to see more female bodied manikins in first aid training rooms, or realistic scenarios of CPR and using a defibrillator in TV and Film to help remove any hesitations.

Whenever possible, you or another person should have called 000 in the steps leading up to performing CPR (remember your DRSABCD). The emergency service operators will be able to guide you through the process and advise on where to position your hands, and if or when clothing needs to be adjusted.

Defibrillators such as the HeartSine Samaritan 500P, can also provide clinical feedback on the CPR compressions being performed and let you know if your compressions are good compressions or if you need to push harder or faster – minimising unnecessary injuries.