When you do a CPR training course there is one important point the trainer will always make towards the end of the course.
They will advise you that they cannot award you a certificate showing you’ve passed the course if you cannot demonstrate the following: “performed at least 2 minutes of uninterrupted single rescuer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) – 5 cycles of both compressions and ventilations on an adult resuscitation manikin placed on the floor”.
There are two very good reasons why you must be able to demonstrate this to your trainer.
Firstly, this requirement is standard in all first aid and CPR training that is delivered in accordance with the Australian Resuscitation Council’s guidelines*. (Which we follow, of course!)
But secondly, and most importantly, this guideline has been developed for the real world. Because in the real world, the most likely place you will come across someone who needs CPR is on the ground. Very few will be in a position say equivalent to being on a table at a comfortable height for you to begin treating them.
So, because the skill of CPR must be something you can do in the real world, to be able to be granted a certificate that shows you are a graduate of a CPR or First Aid training course, your trainer must be satisfied, and have seen for themselves, that you can actually do what would be required of you in the real world.
If you, for example, cannot get down on your hands and knees, because you have some physical impairment, then if you cannot do it in training, how would you ever do it in real life? Or if you have some other physical inability that means you cannot keep up the CPR for a full 2 minutes as required, then again you would not be passed on your training.
While these requirements might seem harsh, they are there not just because of some bureaucratic reason set by the ARC.
But more importantly than that, ask yourself – what would you want for yourself or a loved one if they were ever in a situation where they needed CPR to save their life?
Would you want someone jumping in to help, who had done a CPR course but had been given a “quickie pass” by a trainer who didn’t even bother to check they could actually do it properly, on the ground, for the required period of time?
Or would you want the person helping you, or your loved ones, to be fully and completely trained and who had demonstrated that they actually had the physical ability and competence to perform CPR for 2 minutes or more?
We know what we’d like and that’s what you get when you book first aid training with us. Book now at https://www.resultsfirstaid.com/courses It’s quick and easy.
*The guidelines do allow a trainer to make a “Reasonable Adjustment” for individual circumstances on the day of training, such as the person having a sprained wrist and is not able to continue the CPR for the full 2 minutes. In such circumstances, if the trainer can clearly see that once they recover from the sprained wrist they would be able to do the CPR properly they can issue a certificate and pass the person in the course.