A Starter's guide to Basic Life Support Programme

Imagine you’re standing in a queue and a woman right before you suddenly collapses. If you have the knowledge of Basic Life Support (BLS) you will quite easily be able to take control of the situation and even save her life (not to mention the boost it’ll have on your own personal feeling of greatness)!

Basic Life Support training is more essential than we care to know. So, it’s for you, a healthcare professional or anyone who might be present at the scene of an accident.

By the way, BLS is also known as CPR or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in some countries & organizations.


A brief history of BLS
In 1992, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) was established to organise resuscitation efforts around the world. ILCOR members congregated from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the European, Asian, and African continents.

The first resuscitation manual was written by the committee in 2000. The International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Science with Treatment Recommendations was issued by the committee in 2005.

After 2010, the committee has given materials to international resuscitation organisations such as the European Resuscitation Council and the American Heart Association in order for them to compose their own recommendations. After 2015, ILCOR has used a modern approach named Consensus on Science with Care Recommendations (COSTR) to assess the accuracy of the most recent research and come to a decision on the right resuscitation therapies. ILCOR began conducting quarterly assessments and publishing reports on the new evidence of resuscitation using the COSTR approach, as opposed to the former 5-yearly analysis.

CPR or BLS in the field extends the period it takes for higher-level emergency responders to arrive to deliver ALS care. The automatic external defibrillator, or AED, is a significant advancement in delivering BLS. Which increases the chances of recovery in cardiac arrest situations.


The Basic Concept Behind BLS
There is a certain disambiguation regarding what we refer to as BLS certification for healthcare professionals to the one designed for the general public.

Basic life support is a concept that refers to a collection of non-invasive rescue procedures used to preserve a patient's life. BLS, bone fracture stabilisation, spinal immobilisation, bleeding prevention, and simple first aid are only a few examples. But that's perplexing.

These workshops for healthcare professionals concentrate on teaching how to administer critical treatment for heart and respiratory emergencies in adults, teenagers, and babies.

They are some of the most dangerous and life-threatening health emergencies a patient may experience. At the healthcare provider stage, workshops emphasise teamwork, strategic thought, and problem-solving in medical cases, as well as real-life, case-based experiences that help students learn how to administer clinical treatment both within and outside the facility.


The Significance of the Basic Life Support Programme
Basic Life Support (BLS) at Auckland is a type of medical treatment provided during any life-threatening cases so the person can be treated by a team of paramedics or taken to a hospital. It can save people who are coughing, drowning, or experiencing heart arrest, and in certain cases, it can be the difference between life and death.

A BLS certification at Auckland includes all first aid training programmes and other life-saving techniques. This type of first aid instruction is especially beneficial for teachers, daycare centres, health and social care professionals, and also security forces, in addition to representatives of the emergency services.

BLS, in the most simple form, entails securing the patient's adequate blood circulation, airways, and breathing in order to hold them safe before an ambulance or another emergency professional arrives.

On a first aid course, you'll even learn about other critical steps like the recovery posture and how to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED). It could be appropriate to take a special AED training course in certain situations.


What does it imply to say "for healthcare providers"?
It doesn't matter if the course you're thinking of taking is called CPR or BLS—what matters is that it gives you the knowledge you'll need to do CPR professionally.

BLS for healthcare professionals (https://www.emcare.co.nz/quality-teaching.html) at Auckland teaches the same skills as a CPR workshop, albeit at a more advanced stage. They further emphasise serving as part of a squad rather than alone while providing treatment.

The following are some of the items you might expect to learn:
BLS (delivering on your own or as a part of a team)
Using an AED
How to carry out a primary assessment
Advanced airway management
What is an Ambu (Artificial Manual Breathing Unit) Bag and how can you use it.
First Aid for choking (both conscious and unconscious states)
BLS for children and infants

There is no national certifying agency that regulates CPR or BLS courses, so each curriculum is unique. Courses, however, that adhere to the American Heart Association's guidelines, on the other hand, should cover relevant content.


Who Can Do Basic Life Support Certification?
Although the Basic Life Support certification (https://www.emcare.co.nz/quality-teaching.html) course for healthcare professionals is a must, people in other occupations can find themselves in a situation where they must use basic life support without prior warning. So, from bus drivers to coaches, babysitters, lifeguards, nurses, security personnel, pharmacists, guardians, physiotherapists, among others are eligible for such courses. Because having a basic knowledge of this course can actually save a life.

In reality, since no one can determine who anyone they are with may choke or go into cardiac arrest, someone who deals with the public can feel that obtaining a simple life support credential is beneficial.

In reality, no one can determine who will have to encounter someone who falls unconscious or goes into cardiac arrest, but ideally, anyone who deals with the public more often should have themselves certified to perform basic life support procedure.

The Emcare BLS course teaches basic life support which contributes to an American Heart Association two-year initial basic life support credential. You'll never have to wonder, "What is simple life support?" ever after taking a 3-hour BLS lesson!


Emcare's BLS Programme
Our three-hour-long BLS programme at Emcare is designed to give non-clinical staff the following skills necessary to manage life-threatening conditions such as

• DRSABCD approach to patient management
  
• Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
• Use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
• Recovery position
  
• Management of choking
• Management of Anaphylaxis

We can run these courses in your area of work (minimum numbers apply) or you can book onto any of our open courses.

Get in touch with us to know more.