Hi, I'm Jack. 

I have been a paramedic since 2012 and I have never trained using a female manikin.

This is a significant gap in our training that affects our ability to treat patients during cardiac arrest. 

Recent research has demonstrated an alarming training deficit using a female torso with breasts (Herrero-Izquierdo et al., 2025). Specifically, compared to "standard" manikins:

• Starting CPR was 56% slower.
• Defibrillator placement was 21% slower.
• Correct hand placement was 17 times lower.
• Correct AED usage was 68% lower.

A current search of the word "female" on the Australian Resuscitation Council's website returns the result "Nothing to Show Right Now".

I call on the Australian Resuscitation Council and all state and territory ambulance services to incorporate female anatomical manikins into CPR training as standard practice.

Incorporating female anatomical manikins along with retraining improved AED use by 80%, and starting CPR was 21% faster (Herrero-Izquierdo et al., 2025).



Sign this petition to support incorporating female anatomical manikins into our CPR training.

If we are successful, Australia could lead the way in improving these outcomes around the world:

• Bystander CPR in public was less likely for women (Pan-Asia; Liu et al., 2022).
• Public-access defibrillation was about half as common for women (Japan; Ishii et al., 2023).
• Bystander defibrillation was less likely for women (Australia; Paratz et al., 2023).
• Cardiac arrest recognition in public was lower for women (Australia; Munot et al., 2024).
• Bystander CPR in public was less likely for women (US; Blewer et al., 2018).

I urge all organisations responsible to take this important step forward.

Thank you :)
Jack

Important information:

• I'm adding a reference to the "change.org" wiki page in response to some very kind and generous people donating money with their signature. Please note that paramedics are bound by public-sector codes of conduct and that I personally have no influence over how your donation to change.org is used.
• As a public servant, it is my responsibility to seek out, consider, and incorporate criticism associated with my work. Therefore, this petition has been edited and may occasionally be edited in the future to keep up to date with current information.
• Any edits I make will be accompanied by an update below the petition in the "updates" section.

Any views expressed or perceived by the reader are my own and are shared in line with my professional registration and not intended to be associated with any employment or employers.

References:

Blewer, A. L., McGovern, S. K., Schmicker, R. H., May, S., Morrison, L. J., Aufderheide, T. P., … Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Investigators. (2018). Gender disparities among adult recipients of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the public. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 11(8), e004710. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.118.004710

Herrero-Izquierdo, L., Alconero-Camarero, A. R., Abajas-Bustillo, R., Sarabia-Cobo, C., & Ortego-Maté, C. (2025). Female anatomical manikins in basic life support training: A mixed methods study. Nurse Education in Practice, 88, 104533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2025.104533

Ishii, M., Tsujita, K., Seki, T., Okada, M., Kubota, K., Matsushita, K., Kaikita, K., Yonemoto, N., Tahara, Y., & Ikeda, T. (2023). Sex- and age-based disparities in public access defibrillation, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and neurological outcome in cardiac arrest. JAMA Network Open, 6(7), e2321783. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.21783

Liu, N., Ning, Y., Ong, M. E. H., Saffari, S. E., Ryu, H. H., Kajino, K., et al. (2022). Gender disparities among adult recipients of layperson bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation by location of cardiac arrest in Pan-Asian communities: A registry-based study. eClinicalMedicine, 44, 101293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101293

Munot, S., Bray, J. E., Redfern, J., Bauman, A., Marschner, S., Semsarian, C., Denniss, A. R., Coggins, A., Middleton, P. M., Jennings, G., Angell, B., Kumar, S., Kovoor, P., Vukasovic, M., Bendall, J. C., Evens, T., & Chow, C. K. (2024). Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation differences by sex – The role of arrest recognition. Resuscitation, 199, 110224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2024.110224

Paratz, E. D., Nehme, E., Heriot, N., Sundararajan, V., Page, G., Fahy, L., Rowe, S., Anderson, D., Stub, D., La Gerche, A., & Nehme, Z. (2024). Sex disparities in bystander defibrillation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation Plus, 17, 100532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100532

Wikipedia contributors. (2026, February 3). Change.org. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:02, February 16, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Change.org&oldid=1336334716