CPR Training with a Bra: “Small Design Choices Can Mean Life or Death for Women”

Women are less likely than men to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and early use of a defibrillator in the event of cardiac arrest. To mark International Women’sDay on 8 March, Laerdal wants to highlight how more realistic and inclusive training can help reduce this disparity.

New guidelines from the European Resuscitation Council and the American Heart Association state that defibrillator pads should be placed on bare skin. Nevertheless, experience from training courses shows that uncertainty around clothing, bras, and correct pad placement can lead to hesitation.

When these issues are addressed in training situations, for example by using manikins wearing bras, important conversations are opened that help people feel more confident about acting quickly when it matters.

“When women are less likely to receive life‑saving help, it is a clear sign that both the healthcare system and society have a responsibility to improve. More realistic training is not about details for their own sake, but about reducing uncertainty and ensuring that everyone receives equally fast and correct help –regardless of gender,” says Mette Alhaug, Senior Product Manager at Laerdal Medical.

Research fromDuke University School of Medicine, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, shows a clear and consistent pattern: women are less likely than men to receive life‑saving CPRand early defibrillation if they collapse in public.

The 2024 study is based on analyses of more than 309,000 cases of cardiac arrest in the UnitedStates between 2013 and 2019. It shows that women have a 14 percent lower chance of receiving bystander CPR.

Laerdal emphasizes that inclusive design and gender balance are long‑term commitments, both in how products are developed and in how the organization works with diversity and leadership globally.