intothehills

By intothehills

Invisible Bias*

Yep, it's a topless  (well to be exact legless) woman. Get over it.

I've been teaching first aid for well over a decade, attending courses for three. A couple of years ago, after lots of searching, I finally found these representative female cpr manikins. Only one company makes them, and they're considered niche.... Think that through. Even more eye raisingly the main maniken on the market, probably 80% of all training manikens is called a "Little Annie", is based on L'Inconnue de la Seine (the unknown woman of the Seine) and looks distinctly, anatomically, male. 
Women are less likely to receive  'bystander' cpr. The percentage less likely exactly correlates to the percentage they're less likely to survive a cardiac arrest. Just this winter I had a male teacher tell me he couldn't do cpr on a female student without getting another teacher to be present... I've offered to speak to his head and explain just how hard a conversation that's likely to be with grieving parents.

Fortunately today's instructors didn't hesitate, weren't phased and set about 'saving' her life. 

*recommended reading:
Invisible women: data bias in a world designed for men

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.