Performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at a life-threatening time can make a difference in someone’s life. When performed properly, CPR can increase survival chances by thirty percent. Despite knowing CPR, some people are unable to conduct it due to outdated licenses. Here is why it is important to ensure that your CPR license stays updated.
Importance of CPR
Cardiac arrests can suddenly occur anywhere. Knowing CPR can thereby increase safety in public areas, schools, and households. It is also an effective way of stepping in and doing something until the medicals arrive at the scene. Because it prevents brain death and reduces damage to key organs, particularly the brain, CPR is extremely crucial. Additionally, doing CPR at the correct time improves survival rates and expedites recovery.
Some Reported Statistics
436,000 Americans die due to cardiac arrests annually. On top of that, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital setting. 70% of these occur in houses, and the highest rest in public places and nursing homes. Just 40% of those who experienced cardiac arrest received CPR from passersby. These figures demonstrate the value of doing CPR and its potential advantages.
Staying Constantly Updated
Of course, knowing CPR and getting a certificate is only the first step. Due to constant advanced research, the protocols and techniques to do CPR keep on getting updated. Also, practice makes perfect, and your skills get rusty when you do not practice regularly. You can lose proficiency and forget some steps of CPR, and when the time to perform it in a high emergency comes, you feel lacking.
The Best Time for Renewal
The American Heart Association and the American Red Cross recommend getting your license renewed every two years. However, you should not wait till the expiration date to get your CPR license renewed. Imagine you get caught up in something, forget to get your license renewed, and have an opportunity where you can save a life if you could perform CPR but cannot because your license is expired. That would be an absolute bummer.
CPR for Everyone
Usually, when a person is going through a cardiac arrest, the first responders are bystanders. The chances of the bystanders being healthcare providers are very limited. This demonstrates the value of everyone having knowledge of CPR, regardless of their line of work, and the potential advantages of doing so. Therefore, it is important to keep your certificate updated. You never know when you may have the chance to save a life.
Sign To Detect Someone Who Needs CPR
There are many ways to tell if a person is suffering from cardiac arrest and needs CPR. One of them is their irresponsiveness. The person will show no reaction when you call them out or physically touch them; it means they require CPR. Irregular breathing patterns are another indicator of the need for CPR. Heavy breathing, gulping and gasping for air, and not breathing are indicators that the person has gone into a cardiac arrest and needs CPR.
How to get your license renewed?
There are many ways you may can renew your CPR license. You can either attend physical CPR renewal courses where you are given hands-on training and feedback from instructors or practice on mannequins, which can help develop your muscle memory.
You can also go for the hybrid options whereby you can take your time revisiting your concepts and completing the theory part yourself in an online sitting. Later, you can meet with instructors and have a physical evaluation of your skills.
If you have already completed such courses and just want to polish your skills, you can take less time-consuming and less costly refresher courses that update you with the latest advancements in CPR techniques.
Where to get your license renewed from?
You can get certified at local testing centers or your workplace if you are a medical professional or get online certification. Online certifications, however, are not that credible and not accepted everywhere, especially at medical institutes.
Conclusion
Once you start looking at CPR as a responsibility and not as a skill, it will change things for you. Renewing your license will no longer seem like a chore but an enticing opportunity to save someone’s life.
