Many people do not brush up on their first aid knowledge and are then unsure in an emergency. For more than one in four or 26 percent, this course was more than 20 years ago, as a Forsa survey published on Monday in Hamburg for the Techniker Krankenkasse shows. For people over 60 years old, this affects about one in two people, at 52 percent.
The longer it has been since the last first aid course, the less confident people are in an emergency. Four out of five adults (80 percent) know how chest compressions work – but only if the course was not more than two years ago. Of those surveyed who took the course two to five years ago, only about one or two people, at 53 percent, still know it well.
70,000 people suffer cardiac arrest every year
If the first aid course was more than 20 years ago, only 13 percent feel confident in using chest compressions, and 26 percent of those surveyed have completely lost this knowledge. The opinion research institute Forsa surveyed 1,400 people aged 18 and over nationwide from April 11th to May 2nd, 2023.
Lucia Schmidt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 18
Every year more than 70,000 people in Germany suffer a cardiac arrest. Every minute counts in situations like this. The measures taken until the emergency services arrive are crucial and can save lives.