Only a few of the instructional videos about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on YouTube provide accurate advice on how to perform basic life support, according to a team of Turkish emergency medicine specialists.
Researchers from university and state hospitals across Turkey reviewed 209 videos on cardiopulmonary resuscitation or basic life support that were recorded in English, without advertisements, and uploaded to YouTube between 2011 and 2013. They excluded thousands of others that were irrelevant, not in English or accompanied by ads.
Only 24 of the videos, 11.5 percent, were completely compatible with 2010 CPR guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA), according to the results published in Emergency Medicine Australasia.
