If you want to find the right CPR class, follow this simple guideline to help you make your decision.
Availability
It’s possible to find a CPR class at almost any time of the day, and this is critical for busy healthcare professionals – the demands of your normal job, and the odd hours that are occasionally required, mean that it can be very difficult to fit regular classes into your schedule. This is a problem, because CPR skills have been proven to fade over a period of several months – regular refresher courses are a requirement if you want to stay qualified.
Look for classes that are available when you’re least likely to be working – weekends are a good choice, but don’t be afraid to head for a class in the middle of the week if that’s the only room you can find in your schedule. The key point here is consistency – the average CPR class won’t change its schedule very much, so you want to find a class that you can regularly attend, regardless of your work schedule.
Don’t forget to take driving time into account when figuring out how available you are – fortunately, it shouldn’t be very difficult to find an appropriate class within half an hour or so of where you live.
Subject Matter
The CPR class you choose should fully cover the subject and go over every part of the process. Do not look for a simple refresher course that only goes over the basics – you can and almost certainly will forget many of the details if you go too long without using these skills, and refresher courses may not be enough to adequately bring you back up to where you should be.
It will take longer to go over all of the material, but this training is too important to compromise. Go for the most complete classes you can – we cannot stress enough how important this is if you actually want to remain qualified to perform CPR.
Price
You should attend at least four CPR classes a year in order to keep your skills sharp – a course every three months will usually be sufficient to allow you to respond with the trained skills at any time. As such, don’t just look at the paper cost of any CPR class – instead, immediately quadruple the figure to determine how much you’ll pay on an annual basis to keep your skills sharp. This is the most accurate measure of the true cost of training, but keep in mind that this training can make all the difference between a patient that’s able to leave and one who will never have the opportunity.
CPR is a critical component of modern medical techniques, especially for immediate response in emergencies, and choosing a CPR class based on the criteria above will help you ensure that you never have to compromise on skill.
Related articles
