What worries people about performing CPR?

This study examines whether or not lay people who have undertaken basic life support (BLS) courses are then willing to perform CPR on either an adult or a child, and, if not, why not.

Undertaken in Italy, questionnaires were given to people who had completed a BLS course (excluding any health professionals) to evaluate participants’ perceived willingness to undertake CPR. Over 13 months, 1000 questionnaires were completed: females n=223; males n=777.

Overall, a statistically significant difference was found between the numbers of participants who said they would perform CPR on an adult as opposed to a child (86.2% vs 73.9%, P=0.005).

With regard to adult CPR, the main issue was described as general fear, followed by fear of causing damage; fear of litigation; fear of contracting infectious diseases and, lastly, fear of not being successful.

In paediatric CPR, the main fear related to causing damage, and the least frequently expressed fear was contracting infectious diseases. A statistical difference was noted between participants’ fear of contracting infectious diseases when administering CPR to an adult (13.8%) and a child (3.4%; P< 0.001).