Tips for CPR instructor?

Caspar

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Any tips out there to make a class more interesting and fun for the students?
 

DesertMedic66

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What we did for my EMT class is we made it two 8 hour days. The first day is all just the info and stuff to get certified and the test. The next day is a full day of skills where the students can actually put what they learned into practice
 

OnceAnEMT

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What we did for my EMT class is we made it two 8 hour days. The first day is all just the info and stuff to get certified and the test. The next day is a full day of skills where the students can actually put what they learned into practice
:p Just to be clear, I personally would never participate in a 16 hour AHA CPR course. I'll give it to you for your EMT course, but if we are talking laymen CPR, hell no I'm not going a 2nd day.

I've kind of thought about this too, tossing around the idea of becoming an instructor just to have a little side fun (the manikins can be borrowed for free easily around here). My suggestion is don't let the class be solely video. Work some of your own information in between videos, make sure they know you're the instructor, not the video. I'd spend time during or after talking about the way things work from calling 911 to ALS running a code.
 

azbrewcrew

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CPR needs to be a shorter class. 16 hours? Wow. With the push for compression only CPR there is no reason for it to be any longer than 5 hours tops. Its really not that complicated.
 

samiam

Amazing Member
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CPR needs to be a shorter class. 16 hours? Wow. With the push for compression only CPR there is no reason for it to be any longer than 5 hours tops. Its really not that complicated.

Unless it is professional rescuer CPR..still not 16 hrs but not just compression's lol
 

azbrewcrew

Forum Crew Member
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Exactly. Throw a BVM at them, let them find the business end on their own, and teach a proper 2 handed and 1 handed seal.
If you can't learn that in an hour or so id be a bit concerned. Ive recert my CPR so many times now its doable in my sleep
 

azbrewcrew

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Anyhow. Back on topic. There unfortunately isn't really anyhow fun and exciting you can do to make CPR easier to learn. Its pretty cut and dry
 

NPO

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Download one of those cardiac arrest alert apps and wait? :)
 

johnrsemt

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Always, Always, ALWAYS make sure that everyone in the building knows that there is a CPR class in progress. Otherwise when a student yells, "call 911" someone will. Had it happen in a church, and had so many calls that Dispatch made it a box alarm.
 

EMSisMyLife

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Having a good personality and confidence are your two keys. I taught a CPR class for a while and after instructing with other instructors, I quickly learned that throwing a few jokes in there makes the day go by faster and keeps the students engaged.

One of the instructors would ask "How do you know are providing adequate respiration on an adult?" they would respond by saying, when you chest rise, he would continue asking, but instead of saying adults he would say gerbils, horses, dogs, cats, pigs, alligators, and other animals. It got the point across, and it kept the students engaged. Of course when I tried using his joke I failed, miserably.
 
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