New Year, New You. Why Learning CPR should be your Number 1 New Year’s Resolution

Now that the new year is upon us, you may have set yourself a New Year’s Resolution. If you have, great! But before you finalise your list, we have something in mind that you could add to your resolutions list that could go as far as to you saving a life! 

Would you be confident in stepping in to perform CPR on someone whether you know them or not? Only 22% of people in the UK would be confident in performing CPR on a stranger. This results in a great number of preventable deaths occurring if bystanders had responded promptly and effectively to the situation.

Approximately 30,000 Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests occur in the UK each year with 80% of these occurring at home. This means if you were ever required to perform CPR it would most likely be to a loved one. Knowing CPR can often be the difference between life and death.

Aside from these reasons, we explore why your main goal for 2018 should be to learn CPR.

Take Action

Effective bystander CPR that is provided immediately after a sudden cardiac arrest can double or even triple a victim’s chance of survival. However, only 32% of cardiac arrest victims get CPR as a result of bystanders who are unaware of how to help in an emergency situation.

Given that the victim’s chance of survival will fall by approximately 10% for every minute that goes by without bystander CPR until defibrillation, this highlights how essential it is for bystanders to know CPR so they are able to perform it immediately as the victim’s survival relies heavily on those nearby during the time it takes for the emergency services to arrive.

By learning CPR, you will have the ability to act with confidence and respond to an emergency situation, improving the overall survival statistics.

New Opportunities

CPR will not only make a life-saving difference, it can also create opportunities for you. CPR is a skill that you can acquire in a short amount of time but will have for life.

Having this qualification on your CV can benefit you as every workplace should have at least one person appointed to take charge of first aid arrangements. This will also demonstrate to prospective employers that you are willing to learn more and expand your skills.

If you are staying within your existing job role, you may want to share your knowledge with your colleagues and encourage them to become a first aider too.

Save a Life

So there you have it, we hope this will have convinced you to go ahead and learn CPR if you have not already done so.

CPR and the use of a defibrillator is the only definitive treatment for sudden cardiac arrest and all of our AED courses include CPR training. Will you be making another New Year’s Resolution? Let us know by tweeting us @imptraining.