Category Archives: First Aid Training

First Aid and CPR Certification: Getting Ready for Emergencies

CPR Certification, First Aid Training

Getting a first aid and CPR certification can prepare you for emergencies and make you a better caregiver. Nobody welcomes emergencies but being ready for them is much-required. A new parent, a senior care helper, a nanny or a babysitter, the value of CPR and first aid training is priceless in case of an emergency.

What will First aid and CPR training teach us?

•    Checking the scene of the emergency
•    Determining the needs of a victim
•    Calling 911
•    First aid skills for controlling bleeding and treating cuts, scrapes, bee stings, insect or snake bites, etc.
•    Understanding the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, choking, etc.
•    Treating sudden illnesses
•    Preparing you for tackling these common childhood occurrences.

Finding the right First Aid and CPR Course
You can choose from online or in-person courses all around you. Many local hospitals and community centers offer First Aid and CPR programs or they can guide you in the right direction. You can also find safety training courses through the websites of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association and the National Safety Council. These agencies offer a wide range of courses, aimed at helping both adult and child victims.

Maintain a First Aid Kit
Even if you are not able to get First Aid and CPR Training, you need to have a completely stocked first aid kit in your car, home, office and nanny bag. It’s quite resourceful during emergency — from scraped knees to snake bites to car accidents and earthquakes. Your kit should include things like different size bandages, antibiotic ointment, aspirin, hand sanitizer, gauze, scissors, etc. You can also purchase ready-made ones online.

First Aid and CPR Certification: Getting Ready for Emergencies

While facing an emergency, dial 911 first. You need to have the skills to detect, assess and treat victims until professional medical personnel arrive.

CPR, First aid training is “essential” for parents

CPR Certification, First Aid Training

Do you know what to do in a situation when your child has swallowed something toxic? What you’ll do if your child is not breathing properly? Accidents are obvious when children grow up. Parents should always remain prepared to handle unexpected medical emergencies. CPR and first aid training courses help parents understand about basics of life-saving procedures.

What are the important elements of CPR training classes?

CPR classes give parents some background knowledge about CPR including when it should be done and how it is performed. A detailed pediatric CPR course provides the correct technique of performing CPR on infants or child to increase the chance of survival.

How first aid training can help make a difference?

In an emergency situation, you cannot wait for medical professionals to arrive and attend your injured child. First aid treatment knowledge can make a difference between life and death for a victim. With a background in first aid training, parents can provide necessary medical care in a life-threatening situation until medical technicians arrive.

CPR/first aid training is “essential” for parents

First aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills help parents gain more knowledge about how to respond to emergencies. These safety training courses provide them confidence to handle emergency situations. So, CPR/first aid training is “essential” for parents.

OSHA Training Program : Things to Know – Infographic

CPR Certification, First Aid Training

The given Infographic throws light on key features of OSHA’s training institute education centers which are a network of non-profit organizations authorized by the same. OSHA training program was initiated to meet the demands for private sector training. The OSHA Training Institute (OTI) education centers provide training to public sector and private sector personal and employees working in federal agencies.

There has been constant increase in the number of personals trained by OTI Education centers every year. Finding OTI Education centers is easy. The OSHA site contains a full-fledged list of all OTI Education centers, course descriptions, prerequisites and a searchable course schedule. Other necessary details like course schedule and fee structure is also available on the OSHA website.

The OSHA training program offers many benefits. Training on safety and health hazard recognition and abatement is a part of the training. This training is available nationwide at all convenient locations. You can avail the benefit of customized training schedules and formats. Spanish students have a reason to smile as certain courses are available in Spanish. Your career can take a new leap with the professional development opportunities available through this course.

Most of the OTI education centers are offering certificate or degree programmes promising additional opportunities for professional development. OSHA training degree programs include associate, bachelors, masters and doctoral levels.

First Aid Treatment for Asthma Attack

First Aid Training

Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children and adults that can cause difficulty in breathing, coughing, wheezing, and chest congestion. Nearly 235 million suffer from asthma all over the world and approximately 25 million people are asthma patients in the United States alone. Though severity symptoms of asthma vary from person to person, but it can get worse suddenly. A patient’s lungs can cease to function or the heart may stop beating during asthma attack. One should know how to help such patients at the time of emergency. Here’s a first aid treatment guide that can help you, as a bystander, when a person goes on asthma attack.

Basic first aid treatment for an asthma attack:

•    Help sit the person in an upright position comfortably and loosen his/her tight clothing.
•    Help the patient use their own inhaler. If the patient doesn’t have any inhaler of his/her own, use the one from a first aid kit.
•    It takes 5 minutes for the drug inside the inhaler to show its full effect. Assist the patient in taking the medication after every 5-10 minutes.
•    In case the condition of the patient worsens, call emergency medical technicians by dialing 9-1-1 and explain about the emergency situation.
•    Provide mouth to mouth respiration to the patient till medical professionals arrive when the patient is not breathing.

First Aid Asthma Attack
Asthma attacks are preventable. Medically prescribed drugs are very effective in relieving asthma attacks. But one should never underestimate the acute conditions. Get trained in first aid so that you can help such patients in case of emergencies.

Infant CPR and first aid certification – Infographic

First Aid Training, Pediatric CPR

Seeing their own child in an emergency situation is a worst nightmare for parents. However, learning first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedure can help parents act immediately and confidently in various emergencies.

First aid & CPR training for infants and young children is different than it is for adults. In a pediatric first aid/CPR course, participants learn how to recognize and respond to emergencies such as cardiac arrest and seizures; assess illnesses and respiratory problems; and treat wounds and burns in infants and young children. The best way to learn how to administer CPR or provide first aid to infants is to take a class that is approved by EMS authority or exempted. One can ask the local training provider to verify if the training program is certified and the program instructor is approved. Attending infant CPR/first aid courses is very important for parents & child care professionals because they can become a lifesaver for a child during a life-threatening situation. There are many benefits to being certified in first aid and infant CPR. See the below infographic to know why it is essential to enroll in an infant CPR training program.

Infant CPR and first aid certification

Why ‘Online-only’ CPR and first aid training is NOT SUFFICIENT?

CPR Certification, First Aid Training

You search on the Internet for ‘online CPR/safety training’, and you will find a number of organizations offering instant CPR courses at half the cost of traditional CPR classes. Busy professionals who are required to hold certain safety certifications often opt for online-only courses. However, the fact is that online-only CPR/first aid certification is not accepted by any government or regulatory agency in the United States.

Recently, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a statement to its compliance officers (inspectors) stating that online training alone does not meet OSHA first aid and CPR training requirements. Only computer-based training in CPR and first aid techniques is NOT SUFFICIENT and would result in a Serious Violation of the OSHA regulations. OSHA believes that safety training programs need to be comprehensible and should include traditional classroom-based training, audiovisuals, classroom interaction, and interactive video. Only workplace training in subjects that are not related to safety (or when employee safety is not at risk) may be acceptable via computer-based technologies.

Why ‘Online-only’ CPR and first aid training is NOT SUFFICIENT?
No major nationally recognized training program or reputed training providers in the U.S. endorse online-only certifications without evaluating hands-on skills of participated candidates. So online safety certifications are not legitimate and one should attend traditional classroom training classes in order to get certified in CPR and first aid.

Skills learned in a first aid training class may need to be used on a friend or family member during an emergency situation. In-person instruction and hands-on evaluation are necessary to perform CPR correctly on a victim when required.

First Aid Training Courses for Caregivers

First Aid Training

A caregiver is a paid person or unpaid family member who takes care of young children, elderly adults or people with health impairment. Caregivers regularly handle health concerns and other daily activities of the person they are taking care of. Both children and senior people are vulnerable to injuries and common health issues. That’s why it is mandatory for caregivers to have first aid training and CPR certification. Below mentioned are some of the training programs that should be undertaken by caregivers:

Pediatric First Aid/CPR for caregivers handling infants or young children
This is 9 ½ hours training program which enable caregivers to respond to emergencies by providing first aid treatment, rescue breathing, and CPR. Upon completion, you get a 2-year certification in Pediatric First Aid/CPR.

Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS): In this classroom-, video, and instructor-led course, you’ll learn about concepts such as pediatric assessment, basic life support, and PALS treatment algorithms. There is also a HeartCode PALS Part 1 training program provided by American Heart Association.

First Aid Training Courses for Caregivers
First Aid, CPR and AED Training for caregivers handling adults: The two organizations, American Red Cross and American Heart Association offer this training to people caring for impaired adults or senior persons.

Individual training programs: There are individual first aid courses for different health problems such as Alzheimer’s disease, Aphasia, and others.

These training courses have been designed to help caregivers acquire the necessary skills they need to provide adequate care to children and elderly people.

First Aid Facts & Statistics – Video

First Aid Training

Did you know? Around 70% of people who suffer a heart attack die before getting any medical aid. Many of these deaths are preventable. However, in the absence of any knowledge and training, most people fail to provide immediate medical help to the patient. For this reason, it is considered important for everyone to know how to give CPR.

An understanding of CPR and first-aid can go a long way when it comes to helping an injured person. Providing the first-aid immediately can prevent the damage caused by an injury and in some cases save the life of an individual. There are many situations in which the medical help is not readily available. Be it spinal cord injuries, burn injuries, heat stroke or poisoning, there are many types of injuries where the patient needs immediate medical help. This video will make you familiar with some of the facts and statistics about first-aid and CPR.

Use “PASTE” for deeper assessment when taking “SAMPLE” history

First Aid Training

“SAMPLE” is a first aid mnemonic acronym used for a person’s medical assessment. The SAMPLE history taking is either performed by emergency medical technicians (EMT) or first responders during an emergency. The questions that are asked to the patient include Signs & Symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Past medical history, Last oral intake, and Events leading up to present injury (SAMPLE).

The signs and symptoms assessment is very important, especially during respiratory emergencies, but they are objective. So “PASTE” can be used by the rescuer to gather relevant information about the patient’s health. This is an alternate mnemonic for evaluating a patient having difficulty in breathing. PASTE stands for:

•    Provoke: Find out whether any external factor such as movement is making the situation better or worse.
•    Associated Chest Pain: This will elicit descriptions of the patient’s pain in and around chest area.
•    Sputum production (color): Is the patient coughing up sputum. Mucus-like sputum can be an indication of infection or any problem in respiratory system.
•    Talking & Tiredness: Is the patient talking with you? Is he/she feeling tired? If the patient is not talking or responding to your voice, perform CPR immediately.
•    Exacerbation: Check whether the condition of the patient is worsening with time.

PASTE Technique

Usually, OPQRST (Onset, Provocation, Quality, Radiation, Severity, and Time) acronym is used in lieu with SAMPLE for taking history of an injured person. However, this can be modified for a specific assessment of a patient with a complaint of shortness of breath. PASTE history taking proves to be beneficial in saving life of a person during respiratory emergencies. Such emergency mnemonics are being taught in first aid training classes so that EMTs and first responders can better assess the patient’s condition.

National Preparedness Month is coming: Get ready!

CPR Certification, First Aid Training

National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is observed every year in the month of September in the U.S. FEMA aims to empower and educate Americans to respond to all types of emergencies and disasters throughout the National Preparedness Month. Emergencies can happen anywhere, anytime, so it’s very important for you to prepare yourself for an unexpected emergency. Here’s how you can support FEMA in its emergency preparedness efforts:

•    Be aware of emergencies: Keep yourself and family members aware of different emergencies that may affect you. Access the website www.ready.gov to know what’s important for you and others when an emergency might occur.

•    Get an emergency supply kit: A basic emergency kit should include first aid supplies and food & water in sufficient quantity for at least 72 hours.

•    Make a family emergency plan: Discuss and identify the responsibilities of each family member about how to respond to emergencies while at home, work or public places. By having an emergency preparedness plan you save time and life during real situations.

•    Get trained: At least one member of your family should be trained in first aid and CPR. This will help you improve your response level during and after an emergency.

National Preparedness Month is coming: Get ready!
This September, as part of National Preparedness Month, all Americans are encouraged to take actions, develop an emergency plan, and get involved with the community for emergency management.