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Confused About CPR? Don't Count On TV Shows For Accurate Depictions, Study Warns
- January 13, 2026
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
How do you perform CPR properly? Who’s most likely to need CPR? Where are they most likely to collapse?
Don’t turn to scripted TV shows for answers to these questions, a new study warns.
Television depictions of cardiac arrest are likely to leave bystanders unprepared when it comes time to provide life-saving CPR, researchers say.
Few scripted TV programs demonstrate the proper way bystander CPR is meant to be performed, researchers reported Jan. 12 in the journal Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes.
TV shows also are generally off-base as to where cardiac arrests occur and who is most likely to have one, researchers said.
For example, the great majority of cardiac arrests occur at home, but most depicted on TV shows occur in remote areas or public locales.
“We know that TV depictions of health topics can influence viewers,” said senior author Beth Hoffman, an assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
“We’ve also seen news stories about people saving lives because of the CPR they learned from watching it on screen,” Hoffman said in a news release. “Considering the sheer number of people who watch TV, it’s important to think of how to leverage this to improve the likelihood that people will perform CPR and save lives.”
The study centers on Hands-Only CPR, an approach to CPR that the American Heart Association (AHA) endorsed in 2008 to encourage more people to act quickly if a person collapses in their presence.
Hands-Only CPR asks that a bystander use chest compressions only, rather than a combination of breaths and compressions.
This method is just as effective in getting oxygen to the body’s vital organs, especially in the critical first few minutes after a cardiac arrest, researchers said in background notes.
For the study, researchers analyzed 169 American TV shows depicting CPR that aired after 2008, the year the AHA endorsed Hands-Only CPR.
The shows were mostly dramas — "Breaking Bad," "Yellowstone," "911" — but also included other types of TV, such as two episodes of the adult animated sitcom "Archer."
The results showed that:
Fewer than 30% of the episodes reviewed accurately portrayed Hands-On CPR, in which bystanders called 911 and then started chest compressions.
More than half of the people who received CPR were younger than 40, when real-life cardiac arrest victims are typically 62 on average.
Only about 20% of TV out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happened at home, when in real life more than 80% occur at home. Instead, TV cardiac arrests were more likely to happen in remote areas (37%) or in public spaces (26%).
TV also was more hopeful than real life in showing the likelihood of receiving CPR, researchers found.
Nearly 60% of characters who experienced a fictional cardiac arrest received CPR, while in real life only about 40% get lifesaving treatment from a bystander.
TV did get one thing right, researchers found — inequities when it comes to who’s more likely to receive prompt bystander CPR.
White people were more likely to be shown receiving CPR (65%), as were men (69%).
This reflects real-life disparities in which Black people, Hispanic people and women are less likely to receive bystander CPR, researchers said.
“It was interesting that what we saw on screen mirrored real-life disparities in CPR receipt,” lead researcher Ore Fawole, a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, said in a news release.
“It could be that what is on TV is a reflection of real-life, or that what people are watching on TV reinforces implicit biases or stereotypes that contribute to lower rates of CPR receipt for women, Black adults and Latino adults,” Fawole said.
Scripted TV shows that accurately depict Hands-On CPR might inspire bystanders to become heroes, said Dr. Stacey Rosen, volunteer president of the AHA.
“Wouldn’t it be great if seeing CPR being used to save a life on TV motivated more people to act quickly if they witness an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest?” Rosen said in a news release.
“Hands-Only CPR is a simple two-step process — call 911 if you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse and then push hard and fast in the center of the chest,” Rosen said. “Because no special training or equipment is needed, anyone can provide this lifesaving measure, even young children. That’s especially important because most out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the home, so knowing CPR may help you save the life of someone you love.”
More information
The American Heart Association has more on hands-on CPR.
SOURCES: American Heart Association, news release, Jan. 12, 2026; Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes, Jan. 12, 2026
