PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Torben K Becker
AU  - Sarah S Gul
AU  - Scott A Cohen
AU  - Carolina B Maciel
AU  - Jacqueline Baron-Lee
AU  - Travis W Murphy
AU  - Teddy S Youn
AU  - Joseph A Tyndall
AU  - Clay Gibbons
AU  - Lizzy Hart
AU  - Carlos L Alviar
ED  - ,
TI  - Public perception towards bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation
AID  - 10.1136/emermed-2018-208234
DP  - 2019 Nov 01
TA  - Emergency Medicine Journal
PG  - 660--665
VI  - 36
IP  - 11
4099  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/36/11/660.short
4100  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/36/11/660.full
SO  - Emerg Med J2019 Nov 01; 36
AB  - Objective Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) improves survival and neurological outcomes. Nonetheless, many OHCA patients do not receive bystander CPR during a witnessed arrest. Our aim was to identify potential barriers to bystander CPR.Methods Participants at CPR training events conducted in the USA between February and May 2018 answered a 14-question survey prior to training. Respondents were asked about their overall comfort level performing CPR, and about potential concerns specific to performing CPR on a middle-aged female, a geriatric male, and male and female adolescent patients. Open-ended responses were analysed qualitatively by categorising responses into themes.Results Of the 677 participants, 582 (86.0%) completed the survey, with 509 (88.1%) between 18 and 29 years of age, 341 (58.6%) without prior CPR training and 556 (96.0%) without prior CPR experience. Across all four scenarios of patients in cardiac arrest, less than 65% of respondents reported that they would be ‘Extremely Likely’ (20.6%–29.1%) or ‘Moderately Likely’ (26.9%–34.8%) to initiate CPR. The leading concerns were ‘causing injury to patient’ for geriatric (n=193, 63.1%), female (n=51, 20.5%) and adolescent (n=148, 50.9%) patients. Lack of appropriate skills was the second leading concern when the victim was a geriatric (n=41, 13.4%) or adolescent (n=68, 23.4%) patient, whereas for female patients, 35 (14.1%) were concerned about exposing the patient or the patient’s breasts interfering with performance of CPR and 15 (6.0%) were concerned about being accused of sexual assault. Significant differences were observed in race, ethnicity and age regarding the likelihood of starting to perform CPR on female and adolescent patients.Conclusions Participants at CPR training events have multiple concerns and fears related to performing bystander CPR. Causing additional harm and lack of skills were among the leading reservations reported. These findings should be considered for improved CPR training and public education.