Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR, is a technique that saves lives and revives people who are on the verge of dying. You provide CPR to someone who is either not breathing or whose heart has stopped beating. It’s a vital training course designed for individuals to effectively keep their community safe and secure, providing immediate medical assistance in times of need.
However, all life-saving training is not the same. Some are simple and designed for everyone, known as standard CPR training. At the same time, the professional training encompassing advanced knowledge and expertise is known as BLS CPR certification. But which training is better? Let’s find out!
Standard CPR Training – Foundation of Life-Saving Skills
The standard CPR training is simply the general course that is taught to individuals on how they should react when responding to emergencies, such as cardiac arrest, choking, or even drowning. The standard CPR certification is designed exclusively for home care workers and ordinary people like teachers, coaches, babysitters, or parents.
What Standard CPR Certification Covers?
Basic Resuscitation Techniques
The standard CPR course covers all essential techniques required for resuscitating someone in distress. It includes basic chest compressions without damaging ribs and rescue breathing drills. The course emphasizes either working alone or assisting a healthcare professional, especially when treating someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest. From this training, individuals can provide essential medical care while waiting until the emergency responders arrive.
Use of AED
The course teaches individuals how to use an AED. It’s an automated external defibrillator working as an essential device to save lives. The device is attached to the patient’s heart, giving them an electric shock to revive them with a normal heartbeat.
Certifications
You become a certified CPR professional once you complete the course. This training confirms that you have the knowledge and expertise to save a life in need. This certification remains valid for two years.
BLS CPR Certification – Advanced Course for Professionals
The BLS CPR training is an advanced practice where individuals learn how to provide basic life support with CPR. It’s designed exclusively for healthcare professionals, either physicians, EMT experts, nurses, doctors, or paramedics. Firefighters also get BLS CPR training due to the intensive nature of their job.
The BLS training encompasses more than what standard CPR courses teach, providing a more inclusive approach toward life-saving techniques.
What the Course Covers?
Advanced Techniques
The most important topic covered in BLS and CPR training courses is that they feature advanced techniques. It involves team-based CPR work, where several rescuers care for an injured person. In a hospital setting, teamwork is the key to victim survival.
Airway Management
This course includes crucial techniques for using a bag-valve-mask (BVM). These masks are used in hospitals and ambulances to provide breath to the patients, giving them a chance to live.
Defibrillation
In the BLS certification, the individuals are trained to use defibrillators independently, delivering low to high range of electric shock to the patient, reviving their heart for sinus rhythm.
Certifications
The practitioners in this training must give a written test with a practical assessment. Anyone failing in any domain will not be entitled to the certificate. BLS CPR certification is considered a professional degree for healthcare professionals that remains valid for two years.
Key Differences Between BLS CPR and Standard CPR Certifications
Which certification suits you the most? Here are the differences that you must know before choosing the right training program:
Target Audience
Choose BLS and CPR training if you are a healthcare practitioner and need the certification to work in demanding life-saving situations.
Standard CPR training is enough for learning common life-saving tactics and plays an essential role in the community.
Skills Covered
In the BLS CPR course, you will learn sophisticated approaches, such as team coordination, airway management, and the application of advanced medical devices.
Standard courses emphasize simple life-saving tactics such as CPR and AED use.
Certifications
You must pass a written and practical examination to get your certification in BLS CPR training.
With limited testing skills, you can easily earn your certificate in standard CPR.
Conclusion
By learning to differentiate between BLS CPR certification and standard CPR training, it becomes easy for you to select which is the most appropriate. For instance, you could be a general public member or a health worker, but enrolling in a CPR course ensures cost-effective health and personal safety. BLS certification and standard CPR training are essential skills that may make it possible for you to save human lives.