Basic Life Support Training

Nurses, dental professionals, firefighters, members of a security or rescue team and sports medicine staff all need a BLS class, as do students entering those fields. There is no prerequisite. Many people book it alongside first aid courses.

Take whichever your employers, college or licensing body names. Both are valid one year and carry the same clinical standard, so most medical training programs accept either, and health care professionals should check with their employer before booking. Both run fully in class. The difference is the testing — the Red Cross asks 75% on a multiple-choice knowledge test, Heart & Stroke sets a written exam.

No. First aid and CPR courses have been separate from BLS since April 2019. First aid teaches check, call, care plus severe bleeding, burns and choking; in BLS you learn high-quality CPR, bag-valve-mask ventilation and teamwork. Book both together for the bundle discount.

Every year. First aid certificates last three years; a BLS certificate lasts one. The renewal runs two hours against four for the full Red Cross bls course and 3.5 for Heart & Stroke, and it only works while your basic life support bls certification is still current. Let it lapse and you retake the full course, so book early.

A separate two-hour, in-class course for responders who learn to manage an airway and deliver oxygen — OPA and NPA adjuncts, suction, pulse oximetry and oxygen delivery. It is not part of BLS or first aid. It runs afternoons at select locations and the certificate lasts three years.

You need 100% attendance, a passed skills check and a passed written test. An instructor watches you run high quality chest compressions, ventilate with a bag-valve-mask and work a team scenario — you pass by doing each item, not describing it. Your certificate follows within 48 hours.

• Basic/Emergency First Aid: a one-day course covering life-threatening and environmental emergencies
• CPR: certified at Level A, Level B and Level C
• Youth courses: including babysitting safety for kids and teens

Scene safety comes first, then the primary assessment, then compressions. You learn to check for hazards and trigger the emergency response by calling emergency services, then check responsiveness, breathing and pulse. You learn to run an AED Trainer yourself — placing the pads, standing clear while it analyses the heart rhythm, delivering the shock. The same hands on practice covers bag-valve-mask ventilation and choking relief, including abdominal thrusts, often called the Heimlich manoeuvre.

Brain damage can begin within four to six minutes once blood flow stops. That window is what bls training is built around. Immediate CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival after cardiac arrest, so we drill compressions until they are muscle memory.

Yes — BLS protocols are updated periodically to reflect current resuscitation guidelines. Compression depth, rate and team sequencing all get revised as the evidence moves. That is one reason a basic life support bls certification runs a single year rather than three. Learning CPR once is not the same as staying current.