Lifesaving Society Standard First Aid (SFA) Practice Exam

When several people are present, diffusion of responsibility can keep everyone from acting. The most effective way to counter this is to direct a specific person to help and tell them exactly what to do. By addressing one person directly, you remove the ambiguity of who should act and create accountability, which increases the likelihood that action will be taken promptly. For example, you might say to one bystander, “You call emergency services now,” or “You bring the AED over here.” Merely shouting that everyone should help leaves the task open-ended, and people may assume someone else will step in. Doing nothing or leaving the scene is never appropriate in an emergency. So, the best approach is to assign a concrete role to a particular person and proceed with those actions.