WHEREAS, Women are more than twice as likely to die from a heart attack[1] and yet are 16% less likely to receive CPR in public settings than men, directly and significantly associated with 29% higher chance of survival to hospital discharge for men when compared to women[2];
WHEREAS, Roughly 95% of CPR manikins on the global markets are flat-chested, while the 5% from the survey were breast overlays for the pre-existing male-structured manikins[3], and 40% of all female healthcare manikins produced are for the sole purpose of birthing simulation[4];
WHEREAS, The men who designed the mainstream CPR manikin based the face on a 16-year-old female suicide victim in the 19th century because they believed that “men might be reluctant to kiss a male image” and “thought her features were beautiful,”[5] and yet these manikins were manufactured with a male-structured body[6]; and
WHEREAS, 70% of nurses in California receive their nursing degree from a California Community College and 80% of police officers, firefighters, and EMTs in California have been trained at a California Community College[7]; Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges strongly support the integration of CPR manikins with breasts into nursing, EMT, paramedic, firefighter, and police officer training programs;
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges advocate for the allocation of funding towards supplying a minimum of one CPR manikin with breasts per two CPR manikins without breasts to each nursing, EMT, paramedic, firefighter, and police officer training program within the California Community College system;
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work with the Chancellor’s Office and statewide legislators to introduce policies mandating all nursing, EMT, paramedic, firefighter, and police officer training programs at California Community Colleges to educate students on performing CPR to female-structured bodies; and
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work to bring awareness to the disproportionate statistic of women receiving CPR and lack of female-oriented CPR training materials, using their platform to educate students on the issue.
References:
[1] Women more likely to die after a heart attack than men (2023), https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Women-more-likely-to-die-after-heart-attack-than-men
[2] Gender disparities among adult recipients of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the public (2019), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6209113/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17
[3] CPR training as a gender and rights-based healthcare issue (2024), https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/39/6/daae156/7906013.
[4] Default bias in medical patient simulators: Differences in availability and procedures (2023), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772501423000076
[5] Annie… Annie… Are you OK? Resusci Anne (2011), https://emsmuseum.org/collections/archives/education-simulation-and-training/resusci-annie/
[6] Why don’t CPR dummies have breasts? (2024), https://lesglorieuses.fr/cpr-dummies/
[7] Fast Facts - California Community College Association for Occupational Education(2020),https://cccaoe.org/fast-facts/#:~:text=Eight%20in%2010%20police%20officers,at%20a%20California%20community%20college