CPR Courses Help Save Lives
This article points out that CPR courses help save lives by providing the necessary training to lay people on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. These training programs are provided by various organizations such as the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Red Cross. Comprehensive emergency preparedness courses are also available where not only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures are taught but also first aid, protection against blood-borne pathogens, community disaster education, and the use of automated external defibrillators (AED). CPR courses may also be provided online for individuals who are busy or those who cannot find training schedules that would fit their free time.
CPR training online is provide by various companies and organizations and the online course offered by the Red Cross is known as Blended Learning First Aid/CPR/AED Program. This program is a bit different from the others because it is a combination of online courses and classroom training. The first part, which is the theoretical component, is provided online so that participants would be able to set their own schedules. The second part of the program is conducted in the classroom because this is the hands-on component of the training. The use of the AED when shocking rhythms are established after CPR are also taught in these programs.
CPR courses like the Red Cross CPR training program are very important during emergencies because CPR permits ordinary individuals to save someone who has suffered cardiac arrest. Without this kind of intervention, brain damage can occur within four minutes and death within six minutes. A person with this kind of training is needed because the emergency response team may not be able to arrive in such a short time. Meanwhile, AHA has issued important changes to the guidelines in the effort to make it easier for lay rescuers to remember the procedures and to take into account the findings at the 2005 International Consensus Conference on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations. Key modifications to the procedures include the increase in the number of required chest compression every minute, less delay in between chest compressions, and simplification of CPR instructions.
Some of the modifications to the instructions and procedures that CPR courses must take into account include more focus on the provision of chest compressions at a rate of about 100 every minute while permitting the chest to return to its original position at every cycle and eliminating the procedure where only rescue breaths are provided. Other recommendations of the association include instructions to immediately perform the chest compressions after providing two rescue breaths and making sure that interruptions to the series of chest compressions are minimized. Members of AHA believe that the primary challenge in increasing the effectiveness of CPR is upgrading the education provided to lay rescuers. AHA wants to improve the rate of skill retention in course participants, reduce the barriers that impede the activity of emergency medical technicians, provide more ways to offer CPR training, and upgrade the efficiency and effectiveness of such courses.
