If you are a healthcare provider, you know that you have to be certified in CPR to meet the requirements of your employer or state licensing board. CPR is a basic, lifesaving intervention that you may end up using often throughout your career. That said, signing up for a CPR class can be a pain. If you’re working long hours and night shifts, it’s not easy to carve out time on your day off to attend a class.
Luckily, there’s another option: online CPR certification for healthcare providers. Let’s take a look.
Who are healthcare providers?
It’s important to know who is required to get BLS certification and “healthcare provider” is a somewhat general term. Federal regulations dictate that these professions qualify you as a healthcare provider:
- A doctor of medicine or osteopathy
- Dentist
- A clinical social worker who is authorized to practice by the State
- Clinical psychologist
- Nurse practitioner
- Respiratory Therapists
- Nurse-midwife
- Registered nurse
- Chiropractor
- Podiatrist
- Optometrist
- Christian Science practitioner
How are basic life support CPR classes for healthcare providers different from regular CPR classes?
Healthcare providers require more extensive training than the average person since they have different equipment available to them and have more rescuers available for multi-rescuer skills.
Healthcare providers take basic life support or BLS classes. This training involves CPR skills like pulse checks, using a bag valve mask to administer ventilation, when and how to perform rescue breaths, how to treat an opioid overdose, neonatal BLS, jaw thrust maneuver, and how to perform two-person or team approach CPR. These are healthcare provider-specific skills that average people do not need because they don’t have access to this type of equipment.
As a healthcare provider, taking a basic CPR course isn’t enough. You end up missing crucial information and skillsets that you need to know. Non-healthcare CPR classes are appropriate for people outside of the healthcare setting, but as a healthcare provider, you should make sure that you take the correct course.
What is covered in a typical CPR course for healthcare providers?
You know the basics of what a healthcare provider-centered BLS training course involves, but let’s go into it even further, shall we? This will help you get a better picture of what, exactly, you can expect to get from your time if you take healthcare provider level training with ProTrainings.
Introductory CPR Training
Introductory training for CPR goes over the latest CPR methods. Some techniques are outdated because research has shown them not to be as effective as they once though. Modern CPR techniques are far superior and give you the best chance of saving lives.
The course also goes over the five fears of CPR rescue and how to access EMS with modern technology. CPR classes taken even a decade ago are outdated as technology has continued to evolve.
Medical Emergencies
The next part of the course goes over two of the main medical emergencies that you need to be prepared for: strokes and heart attacks. Learn how to spot signs and symptoms of each and how to treat a patient suffering from either.
Universal Precautions
This section of the CPR training for healthcare providers goes over the basic precautions that you should take before treating a patient. This lesson is vital because forgoing these procedures could harm a patient or yourself during a rescue.
Respiratory and Cardiac Arrest Training
This is where you learn basic CPR methods, including using AEDs and the hands-only technique. You’ll review how to perform these on adults, children, infants, people suffering from opioid overdoses, and those who have suffered spinal injuries. Each of these types of people requires special care and techniques.
Multiple Rescuer Skills
This part of your training shows you how to use a bag valve mask, coordinate a two-rescuer CPR and AED rescue, and using a team approach when it comes to CPR. It’s one thing to know how to do CPR on your own but, in a healthcare setting, you also need to know how to work with a team.
Choking Training
Near the end of the course, you learn how to save both conscious and unconscious adults, children, and infants who are choking. Each requires a different method – what works on an adult may hurt a child or prove fatal for an infant.
Bleeding Control
If a patient presents with arterial bleeding or is in shock, you need to understand how to rescue them while working under pressure and within tight time constraints. BLS for healthcare providers teaches you how to do just that.
Where can healthcare providers get CPR certified?
In the past, CPR classes were only offered in physical classrooms or training centers. Today, though, CPR training courses for healthcare providers are available online! You can get all of the knowledge and training required to save lives without rearranging your busy schedule or paying a ton of money for classes that may not be of the best quality.
You can choose online BLS CPR classes from ProCPR that are done completely remotely or choose a blended class if you need better demonstrations of technical skills or prefer traditional classroom learning. It all depends on how you learn best!
How much will it cost for healthcare providers to get CPR certified?
The cost of CPR/BLS training for healthcare providers varies across different networks and types of classes that you want to attend. Some organizations require you to pay more than $60 upfront for your training but online courses tend to be more affordable.
With ProCPR’s program, healthcare providers do not have to pay until they complete the course and are ready to print out their certificates. There are custom prices for groups taking these CPR/BLS courses together. You can get a quote for those on the ProCPR website! If you are a healthcare provider, your job is to improve and save the lives of the people you care for. They trust you to give them the best care possible and getting your CPR certification helps you do that.