The class you sign up for should cover what it advertises
A few weeks ago I was invited to have a table at an employee health & wellness fair. I got to meet a lot of really nice people. Many of whom were parents of infants and young children. I was able to teach several in what to do if their infant or child was choking. All in all I had a great morning and am so happy to have been able to teach everyone who was interested in practicing or watching.
But one thing did make me sad. One of the new moms said she had taken a local course just a month or so beforehand that was offered by a different AHA Training Center than mine. It was advertised as Adult, Child & Infant CPR and with a new baby at home she really wanted to learn Infant CPR. She said the instructor covered Adult CPR AED in great detail, but then rushed them through Child and Infant CPR AED, barely covering it. She said she felt unsure and less than confident that she would know what to do in an emergency at home. That made me both sad and angry. People sign up for CPR AED courses for a variety of reasons, many just because they want to learn just Adult CPR AED or just Child or Infant CPR. A community course has to be able to cover ALL the skills of CPR AED for ALL ages, since we're never sure why people are registering for the class.
When you register for a CPR AED course don't be shy about confirming it will cover the skills that you want to learn. Sometimes if the course is offered by a separate organization from the instructor, such as community or adult education program, you may not be registering directly with the instructor or their training center or site. Ask the instructor at the start of the class if they will be covering the skills you signed up to learn.
For the new mom I met, she had hired a sitter and paid for both her husband and herself to attend a class that did not cover what they needed. It was a waste of their time and money. Sadly the course was advertised as covering Infant CPR (I know because I checked the website for the location the course was held at) and barely touched on it. So she had signed them up thinking, according to the website description, that this course covered exactly what she wanted and needed to learn.
For the instructors reading my blog - do you cover what you are advertising that you are covering? Do you rush through your class? You have an obligation to teach ALL the skills the course is supposed to cover. Put yourself in the shoes of the participants in your class and teach the way you would want someone to teach you. While some people register for a class as a workplace obligation, many are there because they want to be there. They have registered, scheduled themselves to be there and in most cases have paid to be there. We owe them our undivided attention to covering all the skills that they signed up to learn.
But one thing did make me sad. One of the new moms said she had taken a local course just a month or so beforehand that was offered by a different AHA Training Center than mine. It was advertised as Adult, Child & Infant CPR and with a new baby at home she really wanted to learn Infant CPR. She said the instructor covered Adult CPR AED in great detail, but then rushed them through Child and Infant CPR AED, barely covering it. She said she felt unsure and less than confident that she would know what to do in an emergency at home. That made me both sad and angry. People sign up for CPR AED courses for a variety of reasons, many just because they want to learn just Adult CPR AED or just Child or Infant CPR. A community course has to be able to cover ALL the skills of CPR AED for ALL ages, since we're never sure why people are registering for the class.
When you register for a CPR AED course don't be shy about confirming it will cover the skills that you want to learn. Sometimes if the course is offered by a separate organization from the instructor, such as community or adult education program, you may not be registering directly with the instructor or their training center or site. Ask the instructor at the start of the class if they will be covering the skills you signed up to learn.
For the new mom I met, she had hired a sitter and paid for both her husband and herself to attend a class that did not cover what they needed. It was a waste of their time and money. Sadly the course was advertised as covering Infant CPR (I know because I checked the website for the location the course was held at) and barely touched on it. So she had signed them up thinking, according to the website description, that this course covered exactly what she wanted and needed to learn.
For the instructors reading my blog - do you cover what you are advertising that you are covering? Do you rush through your class? You have an obligation to teach ALL the skills the course is supposed to cover. Put yourself in the shoes of the participants in your class and teach the way you would want someone to teach you. While some people register for a class as a workplace obligation, many are there because they want to be there. They have registered, scheduled themselves to be there and in most cases have paid to be there. We owe them our undivided attention to covering all the skills that they signed up to learn.
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