Awareness of procedure is high, but readiness to act in emergency remains worryingly low: Physician
PETALING JAYA: While most Malaysians have heard of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, only few are truly ready to save a life, according to experts.
Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM senior consultant emergency physician Prof Dr Ismail Saiboon said fear and lack of confidence are major barriers preventing Malaysians from performing CPR.
“Based on our research conducted between 2020 and 2022, 51% of respondents said they were afraid of doing it incorrectly, 29% admitted they lacked confidence, 6% felt uncomfortable and 3% simply did not want to intervene,” he said.
He stressed that while awareness of CPR is relatively high, readiness to act in an emergency remains worryingly low.
“We found that 63.2% of Malaysians are aware of what CPR means, likely because basic life support (BLS) is included in the secondary school curriculum, although the way it is taught varies between schools.
“About 35.5% have undergone CPR training, but only 10% have kept their skills up to date, having trained within the last two years. Even more concerning, only 22% say they would be willing to perform CPR in an emergency, while 78% would hesitate,” he added.
Ismail said although government agencies, NGOs and private sector organisations offer CPR training, it is mostly conducted on an ad hoc basis, making it difficult for Malaysians to maintain their skills and confidence.
“At the school level, although CPR is included in the secondary school curriculum, its implementation remains weak, with student feedback showing that CPR or BLS is often treated as an optional subject.
“In some schools, CPR is skipped entirely, taught without hands-on training or handled by unqualified teachers, with many also lacking proper equipment, such as CPR manikins, resulting in poor outcomes.”
He also said one of the study’s most glaring findings is that the majority of Malaysians who want to learn CPR, between 65% and 75%, do not know where to access training.
He highlighted that this is partly because CPR courses in Malaysia are rarely conducted on a regular basis or widely advertised.
“Training offered by health centres, institutions of higher learning, schools and offices is mostly ad hoc. Another challenge is the absence of a national body to coordinate CPR training across the country, making it even harder for people to find accessible training opportunities.”
Ismail said proper CPR, when performed immediately and correctly, could improve a person’s chance of survival by between 25% and 30% but delays drastically reduce those chances, with survival decreasing by about 10% for every minute CPR is not started.
He warned that if CPR is delayed for more than 10 minutes, the chances of survival become almost negligible.
“Other factors, such as the victim’s body temperature and the location where they are found, also affect outcomes, but timely CPR remains critical.”
To improve public readiness, Ismail suggested making CPR a mandatory subject in schools and ensuring all teachers are trained.
He also recommended raising awareness, setting up more training centres nationwide, and establishing a coordinating body to regulate training and certification.
“Automated external defibrillators (AED) should be placed in public areas while trained CPR providers could be registered in a nationwide system, possibly linked to an app to alert the nearest responder during emergencies,” he said.
“Regular audits and the adoption of the Good Samaritan law, which provides legal protection for anyone giving reasonable assistance to someone who is injured, ill or in danger, would further encourage the public to act in emergencies.”
For laypeople witnessing someone collapse, Ismail recommend the Malaysian 5-T CPR method:
- tengok (look) – check the victim and surroundings for safety;
- tegur (talk) – tap and speak to see if the person responds;
- teriak/telefon (shout/call) – call for help, dial 999 and get an AED if available;
- teliti (check) – quickly check if the victim is breathing; and
- tekan dada (compress chest) – if the person is unconscious and not breathing, begin chest compressions at a rate of 100 beats per minute.
