Choosing which CPR/AED course you want to enroll in depends on your reason for getting certified. If you need it for your profession, earning an in-person certification or even a BLS certification is your best bet.
However, if you’re like most people, you probably just want to sharpen your skills. If this is the case, blended or online courses might best suit your needs. This article discusses the many things CPR/AED classes cover.
It also discusses the skills you can get from these classes and how to decide whether in-person, blended, or online classes work best for you.
Knowledge: What You Need to Know About CPR and First Aid
The knowledge portion of CPR classes is the majority of all online CPR AED classes. It examines the instructions on how to give CPR and AED assistance. However, blended learning incorporates both instructional teaching and hands-on education.
The instructional portion of CPR covers the following topics:
- How to identify sudden cardiac arrest
- Understanding the chain of survival links
- Identifying what qualifies as high-performance CPR
- Personal safety and standard precautions
- Steps to assessing an unresponsive person
- Identifying how to use an AED on an adult, child, or infant
- Learning how to place an unresponsive but breathing person in the recovery position
- How to recognize and provide treatment for a choking adult, child, or infant
In the instructional portion of your CPR/AED certification, you primarily learn your role as a CPR/AED provider. The skills in this teaching portion help you recognize emergencies while teaching why those emergencies require your attention.
Learning how to conduct these assessments will sharpen your skills when dealing with responsive or unresponsive victims. These skills will help you determine the best treatment forms.
Skills: What You Need to Do as a CPR or First Aid Provider
After the knowledge portion of your CPR/AED class, you delve into hands-on performance. In this portion, you learn the following skills:
- One-person CPR
- CPR with rescue breaths
- Hands-only CPR
- Administering CPR in a two-person team
- How to use an AED
CPR-only classes may only cover adult CPR or children and infant CPR. However, most CPR/AED classes cover adult, child, and infant CPR in one class. If you add a First-Aid course, you learn the following skills:
- How to control bleeding
- How to respond to a head, neck, or back injury
- Assessing and treating injuries to limbs
- Responding to burns
- How to treat minor injuries
- Identifying and assessing altered mental states
- Addressing someone who is having difficulty breathing.
- Responding to chest pain, severe pressure, or chest discomfort
- Treating victims who have been poisoned
- Responding to environmental emergencies such as hypothermia and stroke
After you finish your skills section of the CPR/AED class, you learn how to put your skills to practice.
Experience: Putting CPR and First Aid Lessons into Practice
Textbook and classroom learning is fantastic, but nothing compares to hands-on training so you can sharpen your skills. This portion of the course gives you access to working as part of a two-person rescue team. Your instructor will also review your First-Aid knowledge and walk you through the steps of controlling bleeding, how to use an epi-pen, and how to assess victims.
Confidence: Being Ready to Help (While Understanding Your Limitations)
CPR/AED classes don’t ensure that you do everything right when faced with an emergency. However, they do build your confidence and give you tools to respond more efficiently to emergencies.
Nothing can fully prepare you for a medical emergency, but if you use training to assess the situation and react quickly by contacting EMS, you are well on your way to helping someone in need.
The Different Types of CPR/AED Certifications
There are three different types of CPR/AED classes: online learning, blended learning, and in-person courses. Each has its benefits and drawbacks and which one you choose depends on your personal preferences.
In-Person
In-person classes give you the most hands-on experience, and they offer the best way to sharpen your expertise with CPR/AED. However, many people can’t afford to take that much time out of their day to go to a location and receive hands-on instruction.
Blended
Blended learning classes are the best way to combine hands-on approaches with remote locations. These classes provide you with a dummy that you can practice your skills on. While in-person classes offer the most intensive training, blended learning is a mixed alternative that lets people enjoy some of the benefits of in-person learning from the comfort of your home.
Online
Online learning offers the best option for people who can’t afford to go to in-person classes. If you have a busy schedule or your schedule doesn’t align with the required times, online learning can still get you certified.
What Level of CPR Training Do You Need?
When choosing which type of training would work best for you, you should also consider the training level required of you. For aquatics first aid and CPR training, If you are in a healthcare setting or something similar, you should consider getting a BLS certification. Your profession might require that you get a BLS, but getting your certification can help you stand out among other candidates even if it doesn’t.
Conclusion- What’s Included In a CPR/AED Course?
Approximately 70-90% of cardiac arrest patients die before reaching the hospital. This statistic shows the dire need for people to get their CPR/AED certification. It doesn’t matter whether you have an in-person, blended, or online certificate. When you give a cardiac arrest victim CPR, you can triple their survival chances.
Though the different CPR/AED class types have crying levels of education, they all build confidence in bystanders to act more decisively in these emergencies. Don’t hesitate. Consider contacting a CPR academy that can accommodate your needs.
