Why don’t manikins come shaped like women?

Most of us have done one, whether it be a requirement for work or by personal choice.

Some, like Jan Stark, have done multiple.

First aid courses are an essential part of giving members of the public the confidence to jump in and help when someone is in need.

Jan's a high school teacher in Tākaka near Nelson and takes safety seriously. But it's the resuscitation manikins used to teach CPR that got her thinking.

"As a woman my body is different to a man's body," she says.

"Surely it should be represented when first aid is being administered."

What Jan noticed is that female resuscitation manikins don't have any breasts, and wondered whether the size or shape of a manikin's chest mattered in terms of teaching things like CPR.

Anna Hocquard from the Hato Hone St John clinical team told Fair Go that the size or shape of a chest doesn't matter.

"Just get on the chest and do those compressions." she says.

"There is only a difference in technique between adults and babies."

This is a relief for Jan, but she believes female manikins need to be as realistic to the female form as possible.

As it turns out, Fair Go found that Jan might be onto something.

Some US studies have found that women are less likely than men to receive bystander CPR in public situations. Researchers think a reluctance to touch a women's chest might be one reason.

Dr Tony Smith, Hato Hone St John clinical director says there's a scarcity of evidence in New Zealand as to whether having specific female manikins would make a difference to the rates of CPR being performed.

Hato Hone St John is investigating this.

It also tells us its manikins are gender neutral, and they use what is available on the market currently

That market leader is Laerdal, the company that makes and supplies manikins to majority of our first aid providers.

It confirms its Little Anne QCPR manikin is not supposed to be female or male.

Laerdal says it decided to make Little Anne androgynous to represent the widest patient group possible.

"We recognise the importance of representing a diverse population and have discussed whether to offer breasts as part of this training solution," it says.

"We continue to work hard on finding ways to best do this across our product ranges."

For Hato Hone St John it's all about saving lives. This month it's launched Shocktober, a campaign to highlight CPR in the community.

CPR is critical in increasing survival outcomes for cardiac arrests, particularly in the community," says Anna.

Its latest annual survey shows more than 2000 people were treated for cardiac arrest in the community, that's five people a day. Only 25% of those survive long enough to make it to hospital, so early intervention is life saving.

Anna says the focus is to educate people as much as possible, to get them feeling confident to do CPR as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile New Zealand Red Cross are trialling a prototype based off the Womanikin, a vest that can be attached to any manikin to combat biased CPR training, and to get people comfortable to perform CPR on someone with breasts.

It's also planning more changes, like updating its media to include images of female patients receiving CPR.

Jan also wondered whether there was a difference in use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) on women versus men.

The AED needs to make contact with bare skin, so more often than not, it requires taking a patient's clothes off.

"Bras have got wires in them so you've got an underwire bra and you've also got hooks," says Jan.

Both the Red Cross and Hato Hone St John say they do emphasise personal dignity for both men and women, when teaching the use of an AED.

New Zealand Red Cross acknowledges that it is an uncomfortable conversation for some people to have, but it's also really important.

"Time is critical. Cutting off the clothing including a bra is the fastest way to clear the chest to apply the AED pads", it says.

"This is discussed at our courses, along with the need to maintain people’s dignity while they are being administered CPR".