A new study has observed that there are very few CPR and basic life support (BLS) videos available on YouTube that provide instructions which are updated with recent health guidelines.
The study conducted by Turkish emergency medicine specialists reviewed the educational videos from the last three years accessed via YouTube.
Associate Professor Paul Middleton, Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and Chair of the Australian Resuscitation Council NSW, said that although well-designed videos could create awareness and be useful as tools in training, they could never replace hands-on instruction from a properly qualified health practitioner.
A total of 209 videos were eventually analyzed and only 11.5percent of the analyzed videos were found to be completely compatible with 2010 CPR guidelines with regard to sequence of interviews.
Middleton added that people wanting to learn CPR and BLS skills should seek out a properly accredited training course.
The study is published in journal for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).