Medical Training
American Heart Association vs. the Red Cross
If you’re planning to get your CPR/AED certification, you have a lot of options, both for which certification you obtain and for who you have instruct the class. The two best known and most widely recognized are the American Heart Association and the Red Cross. The truth is that while there are both benefits and drawbacks to both, there isn’t a huge amount of difference between the classes and training offered by them. Both offer very in-depth training for healthcare professionals as well as programs for laypeople. There are a few key differences, however. First, the American Heart Association (AHA) is a research organization in addition to providing CPR training. Its role is both to research and establish the guidelines for CPR training around the country—guidelines followed by both online and traditional providers of CPR training—and to promote the learning of CPR through its research. The American Red Cross, like most other CPR training programs, adheres to AHA guidelines in designing its training materials. Medical classes that Platinum Safety teaches follow the American Heart Association curriculum, we find that it has a slight edge in being accepted in more situations. If you required a training that is not listed below or prefer The Red Cross curriculum, please let us know, we can accommodate most requests.
Heartsaver® Bloodborne Pathogens Training
The Heartsaver Bloodborne Pathogens course teaches students how to protect themselves and others from being exposed to blood or blood-containing materials. This course is designed to meet OSHA requirements for bloodborne pathogens training. The course is designed for anyone with a reasonable chance of coming into contact with bloodborne pathogens such as: correctional officers, childcare workers, security guards, maintenance workers, school personnel, hotel housekeepers, health and fitness club staff, and Tattoo artists.
Students learn how to:
- protect themselves from blood or blood-containing materials
- act quickly and safely
- clean the area that has blood or blood-containing materials
- tell their supervisor about the incident
- course length: 1-2 hours
- certification period: 1 year
- max student/instructor ratio: 10/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Heartsaver® First Aid Training
The Heartsaver First Aid course trains participants in first aid basics for the most common first aid emergencies, including how to recognize them, how to call for help, and how to perform lifesaving skills. The course is designed for anyone with limited or no medical training.
Students learn:
- first aid basics
- medical emergencies
- injury emergencies
- environmental emergencies
- preventing illness and injury
- course length: 2-3 hours
- certification period: 2 years
- max student/instructor ratio: 24/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Heartsaver® CPR/AED Training
The Heartsaver CPR AED course trains participants to give CPR, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) in a safe, timely, and effective manner. The course is designed for anyone with limited or no medical training. Students learn:
- how high-quality CPR improves survival
- concepts of the Chain of Survival
- how to recognize when someone needs CPR
- how to perform high CPR for adults, children, & pediatrics
- how to perform CPR with help from others Give effective breaths using mouth-to-mouth or a mask for all age groups Demonstrate
- how to use an AED on an adult and a child
- when and how to help a choking adult, child, & infant
- course length: 2-3 hours
- certification period: 2 years
- maximum student/instructor ratio: 10/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Heartsaver® First Aid/CPR/ AED Training
The Heartsaver First Aid/CPR/AED course trains participants to provide first aid, CPR, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) in a safe, timely, and effective manner. It is a combination of the 2 separate classes mentioned above and includes the same material. The course is designed for anyone with little or no medical training.
- course length: 4-6 hours
- certification period: 2 years
- maximum student/instructor ratio: 10/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Heartsaver® Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED Training
The Heartsaver Pediatric First Aid CPR AED course trains participants how to respond to and manage illnesses and injuries in a child or infant in the first few minutes until professional help arrives. The course is designed for anyone with limited or no medical training and applies to childcare workers, teachers, camp counselors, baby sitters, etc.
- course length: 4-6 hours
- certification period: 2 years
- maximum student/instructor ratio: 10/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Basic Life Support (BLS)
The AHA’s BLS course trains participants to promptly recognize several life-threatening emergencies, give high-quality chest compressions, deliver appropriate ventilations and provide early use of an AED. The AHA’s BLS Course is designed for healthcare professionals, prehospital providers, EMTs, paramedics, fire fighters, and in-facility hospital providers. Students learn:
- CPR for adults, children, and infants
- The AHA Chain of Survival, specifically the BLS components - importance of early use of an AED Effective ventilations using a barrier device
- importance of teams in multirescuer resuscitation and performance as an effective team member during multirescuer CPR
- relief of foreign-body airway obstruction (choking) for adults and infants
- course length: 4-6 hours
- certification period: 2 years
- maximum student/instructor ratio: 10/1
* skills evaluation and written test mandatory for course completion
Stop The Bleed
Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign and call-to-action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. This course has 2 main goals; to Inform and empower the general public to become trained on basic trauma care in order to stop or slow bleeding during emergencies and to Increase bystander access to bleeding control kits. The goal of the Stop the Bleed (STB) campaign is to save lives by giving people the tools to control life-threatening hemorrhage, whether it is caused by unintentional injury, crash, violence or natural disaster. This is an informal class with time allowed to practice techniques learned.
- course length: 1-2 hours
- certification period: n/a
- maximum student/instructor ratio: 24/1