HCP BLS Heathcare Provider Skills Check

We offer a HCP BLS skills check if you have taken  American Heart Association Online BLS Healthcare Provider Class.
Click here for more info about the online BLS HCP class

The Basic Life Support Class for Healthcare Providers Online

Part 1 Course offers a flexible training option for busy healthcare professionals.
The complete course is  Web-based,  with self-paced modules. This is helpful when you need a class in a hurry.

Parts 2 and 3 require students to meet with an American Heart Association Instructor to complete a hands-on skills practice session and a
skills test. Upon successful completion of all three parts students receive their BLS for Healthcare Provider Course Completion Card.
This course is an option for Healthcare  providers seeking an alternative to classroom-based training for first-time or renewal certification.

SOURCE:  onlineaha.org

1.   The student must complete the AHA Online class and test
found at http://www.onlineaha.org/

Once you complete the online Healthcare provider class, print out your completion certificate.  You will need to bring this certificate to your skills check off session.

2.  Call   805-928-7233 and schedule your skills check off appointment. If you need this skill check off ASAP, just let us know and we will get you scheduled quickly.  Sometimes we can do your skills check off within 24 hours of your call.

3.  Come to your BLS Healthcare Provider skills check off appointment with your printed copy of the completion certificate.

After you successfully complete the skills check off you will be issued a  BLS Healthcare Provider Card ( BLS/ HCP Card)

E-mail us for questions about the HCP BLS skills check off

CPR Statistics from the American Heart Association

CPR & Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)

Sudden Cardiac Arrest

• EMS treats nearly 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year in the U.S.

• Less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.

• Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. Many victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors.

• Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating. A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

• Less than one-third of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR.

• Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest, can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.

• The American Heart Association trains more than 12 million people in CPR annually, including healthcare professionals and the general public.

• The most effective rate for chest compressions is 100 compressions per minute – the same rhythm as the beat of the BeeGee’s song, “Stayin’ Alive.”

Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs)

• Unless CPR and defibrillation are provided within minutes of collapse, few attempts at resuscitation are successful.

• Even if CPR is performed, defibrillation with an AED is required to stop the abnormal rhythm and restore a normal heart rhythm.

• New technology has made AEDs simple and user-friendly. Clear audio and visual cues tell users what to do when using an AED and coach people through CPR. A shock is delivered only if the victim needs it.

• AEDs are now widely available in public places such as schools, airports and workplaces.

Teens/Youth

• About 5,800 children 18 years old and under suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year from all causes – including trauma, cardiovascular causes and sudden infant death syndrome.

• The incidence of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest in high school athletes ranges from .28 to 1 death per 100,000 high school athletes annually in the U.S.

• The American Heart Association does not have a minimum age requirement for people to learn CPR. The ability to perform CPR is based more on body strength rather than age.

• Studies have shown that children as young as 9 years old can learn and retain CPR skills.

SOURCE: heart.org
Fact Sheet
As of April 26, 2010

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New Studies Reveal That More People Would Attempt CPR If Given Better Instructions, No Mouth-to-Mouth

(AP) More bystanders are willing to attempt CPR if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions – especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research.

The two new studies conclude that “hands-only” chest compression is enough to save a life. They are the largest and most rigorous yet to suggest that breathing into a victim’s mouth isn’t needed in most cases.

The American Heart Association has been promoting hands-only CPR for two years, though it’s not clear how much it’s caught on. The new studies should encourage dispatchers and bystanders to be more aggressive about using the simpler technique.

“That could translate into hundreds if not thousands of additional lives saved each year. What are we waiting for?” said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a RAND Corporation expert on emergency medicine.

An estimated 310,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest outside hospitals or in emergency rooms. Only about 6 percent of those who are stricken outside a hospital survive.

When someone collapses and stops breathing, many people panic and believe that phoning 911 is the best they can do to help.

The larger of the two new studies reported survival rates of about 12 percent when bystanders did dispatcher-directed CPR, confirming earlier research that on-scene CPR can dramatically increase a victim’s odds of survival.

Previous research has suggested that adults who need CPR get it only about one-quarter to one-third of the time when bystanders are around.

One of the new studies found that when dispatchers told callers to start CPR, about 80 percent attempted it when given hands-only instructions, more than the 70 percent who tried the standard version.

Sayre and others credited the increase on dispatchers who immediately told callers what to do, instead of first asking them if they’d had CPR training or if they’d be willing to try it until medical help arrives.

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is a technique that’s been in use for about 50 years. The standard version now calls for alternating 30 hard pushes on a victim’s chest with two quick breaths into their mouth.

The aim of CPR is to do some of the mechanical work of the heart by forcing at least some blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.

Experts have come to believe that pumping is what’s most important in most adult cases, and advise doing chest pushes continually at a rate of 100 per minute and skipping the mouth-to-mouth. Some suggest using the beat of the old disco song “Stayin’ Alive” as a guide.

The studies are being published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

While there is no good national data on how often hands-only CPR is used, Dr. Ben Bobrow, who directs the Arizona Department of Health Services’ emergency medical system, believes it is catching on.

“We’ve seen a huge trend in hands-only CPR in Arizona and I believe that trend is spreading across the country. I think these findings will further promote that,” he said.

Worry about doing CPR correctly was the No. 2 reason many people don’t attempt it, according to a Michigan study published in 2006. The No. 1 reason? People are too panicked.

Traditional CPR is still the preferred form of resuscitation for children or adults who have stopped breathing because of choking, drowning or other respiratory problems.

SOURCE: cbsnews.com

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE FROM ABC NEWS

We want to make sure that you take the correct CPR Class, AED Training, First Aid Class, Blood Borne Pathogen Class, OSHA Compliant Classes , especially if it is a requirement for your job.

Check out the American Heart Association Course Matrix to find out what class you need for your job, club, church, or other group.
If you have specific questions please call us and we will assist you in choosing the correct class.
Call us at 805-928-7233
E Mail

Source: The American Heart Association

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PDF OF THE AHA COURSE MATRIX

By Debra Dibartolo Jul 8th 2010 2:30PM
Three summers ago, I got a phone call from my mother one Wednesday evening, telling me to come straight to the hospital emergency department because, “Your brother’s heart stopped working.” My mother is usually not very excitable, so I was concerned but skeptical. My brother was an extremely healthy, 37-year-old father of two teenage boys. I knew my mother had to be making a mistake, because Brian was coaching football at the school that afternoon and therefore could not be in the hospital. I yelled upstairs to my husband to come with me to the emergency department; that my mother just called and is clearly very confused about something. “She thinks that Brian’s heart stopped,” I told him.

I understand that denial is very powerful. It’s a very strong psychologically-protective coping skill, but I truly was not in denial at that point. I really just thought my mother was confused.

Well, I was wrong. My 37-year-old brother — never sick a day in his life — suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the high school football field while jogging with the members of his team.

Brian was one of the 600 people who die each day from sudden cardiac arrest. My family’s story is not a story of grief and loss, however. Our school has an automated external defibrillator, and all of the coaches and assistant coaches are educated on how to use it. Some of the teenage boys that he was jogging with ran to the school to get the AED, while another one of the coaches started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and called 911. Prior to the ambulance arriving, they “shocked” him twice and returned his heart to normal functioning.

Brian was hospitalized for five days while the nurses, doctors and technicians tried to figure out what happened and provide him with treatment, so it would not happen again. He was discharged and sent home with no injury to his heart, and a permanently implanted defibrillator in his chest for protection, should this ever happen again.

My brother’s story is not just an occurrence of “good luck.” It is a testament to organizations like the American Heart Association and their Public Access Defibrillation Program. As well as the skill, sound minds and quick responses of the young men on his football team, the other coaches, the volunteer emergency ambulance service in our community and the skill and training of the doctors, nurses and technicians who provided Brian’s care and treatment in the hospital.

Defibrillation is the only treatment for ventricular fibrillation, the condition that Brian suffered from that day. His heart, for reasons we still don’t know, began to beat chaotically and ceased pumping blood, which led to him collapsing and having no signs of life. Per the AHA, for every minute that passes, the chances that someone will survive ventricular fibrillation decreases 7 to 10 percent. So after as little as ten minutes, the chances of survival are very, very slim.

It was not a highly-trained emergency medicine doctor, cardiac nurse or paramedic with years of education and experience that saved Brian’s life that afternoon. The real hero of this story was a coach — one of his friends — who attended a one-day class given by the American Red Cross on how to administer CPR and use an AED.

Attending an AHA class is fun! Attending a class with your friends or family is even more fun. The instructors are not intimidating and they have programs that can be tailored to your specific needs and comfort level. Most of the classes don’t even have a test! What they do have is caring community members teaching other caring community members the skills they need to save a life.

SOURCE: AOL Health