Myth! – CPR Certification is needed to help someone. Not true.
Never in the history of medicine has a CPR card saved a life. People with training save lives.
Anyone can help another person, with or without CPR Certification. Basic CPR Training is immensely helpful in saving lives and doesn’t absolutely have to result in that fancy CPR Certification card.
CPR Certification and CPR Training are different but are both beneficial. It just depends on what you need for your career or interests.
How do you choose?
The big difference between CPR Certification and CPR Training is whether or not you need that certification for your job.
The only reason that card is needed is so that your company can prove you have received training that meets American Heart Association standards. That’s it. CPR certification satisfies your employer’s records and isn’t needed in an emergency.
Think about it – if you help someone in need, the paramedics aren’t going to demand to see your ‘card’ because it isn’t a license. Helping people requires no license.
Good Samaritan Laws Protect You
Good Samaritan laws across the country protect you because we all want more folks to stand up and help others. As long as you act in good faith and stick to reasonable actions you have strong protection. Here are some of the rules:
- No tracheotomies – No chest tubes – you get the idea. Only act reasonably and in your scope of training.
- Don’t give up on CPR or “Call it”. Yes, it seems like we see that all the time on TV. It’s nonsense.
- Don’t accept anything in return for helping another human being because compensation is not a good summaritan quality.
- The use of an AED is covered in Good Samaritan laws!
Follow the above rules and as a result you are good to go.
CPR Training Offers Flexibility To Learn What Is Important To You
If CPR Training is what you want and you don’t need that card, you can craft a training class to include whatever you want.
We have to remember that while our job may require CPR certification, CPR cards don’t save lives.
People with confidence and some basic skills – do.
The following are just a few topics you can include in your training- but it’s up to you and your group!
- Best way to get EMS to your location FAST
- Checking the patient
- Treating a patient who is breathing
- Treating a non-breathing patient – performing CPR
- The use of an automated external defibrillator – AED
- Treatment of a patient with a severely obstructed airway – choking
- Control of bleeding
Many Occupations Require CPR Certification
CPR Certification through the American Heart Association requires instruction in specific topics in a specific way. This specific program is widely accepted and meets workplace requirements. The American Heart Association crafts these programs to include the same skills in each and every class. That card tells the auditor that the holder knows a set list of skills.
The hope is that the result of an employee getting certification will be the ability to perform these standardized sets of skills effectively.
What is the benefit of CPR training over that certification?
Time and Money. Is time and money important? Of course.
CPR Training can provide skills to a much larger group in less time, for less cost.
A goal of The American Heart Association is to train as many people as possible, not necessarily certify them. More people with basic skills means less deaths from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). SCA is the leading cause of death for adults in the United States.
Training can provide skills and knowledge that can save lives. A training class can teach skills and knowledge that make all the difference in the world in an emergency.