I attended a “non-certified” CPR+AED training course yesterday. Yes, the “non-certified” was part of the course title. I thought perhaps what they meant to convey was that this course doesn’t lead you to formal CPR certification. Well, that was correct. But after attending the course… I begun to think there was an additional meaning: The course trainers were also not certified to conduct a proper training!
Why? Apart from the main trainer, it seems like the rest of the supporting trainers needed more practice themselves! Furthermore, having been trained as a medic in the SAF, it seems like the CPR “methodology” (if that’s what you can call it) is somewhat different in this “non-certified” course.
For example, no need to check breathing after circulation returns? Hmm, I remember from the SAF taught CPR that this was still needed.
I wonder if this is a case of lack of established standards even within the same country, or perhaps something is quite wrong in this “non-certified” course.
Anyway the fun part for me was to find out more about AED: Automatic External Defibrillator. Yah, like the thingy you see on TV and in movies about delivering electric shock to dead casualties.