Nursing

More options for BSL/CPR recertification

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, October 1, 2004

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Help your nursing staff get their Basic Life Support (BSL)/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) recertification to ensure that they remain competent-and have the necessary proof of their competence-in these life-saving skills.

Options for BLS recertification are growing. For staff short on time, share some of the resources below to help them obtain recertification.
 
1. Offer an online solution. Check out the American Heart Association's (AHA) online "BLS for Healthcare Provider." The course combines a student-paced online training course and a 20-minute skills evaluation session with an AHA BLS instructor. Click here <https://www.nursetesting.com/cpr/signup.cfm> to sign up for the online course. The cost of the online section of the course is $15.

2. Have a recertification day at your hospital. Choose one day per month to have staff take their four-hour CPR recertification class with a skills check-off session. Remember to offer as many classes as possible so that staff from different shifts can participate.

3. Give staff the option to "test out." Testing out is an option the Burgess Health Center in Onawa, IA, offers its staff, says Sharon Taylor, RN, MS, Director of Health Education/Community Affairs. This allows staff to take a self-study approach to the course and only be tested by an instructor on the skills evaluation session.

When registering for the recertification classes, allow staff to choose whether they will take the instructor-lead, four-hour course or the test-out version, advises Taylor. Burgess has been offering the test-out option for CPR recertification for two years and has had no need for remediation, reports Taylor.



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