Basic Life Support (BLS) is the foundation for saving lives after cardiac arrest. It is designed for healthcare professionals and trained first responders who provide care to patients in a wide variety of settings, and teaches both single-rescuer and team basic life support skills for application in pre-hospital and in-facility settings.
The Heart & Stroke BLS course offers:
- The latest resuscitation science for improved patient outcomes
- Realistic scenarios, simulations and animations depicting rescuers, teams and patients
- Course and content flexibility for Heart & Stroke instructors and students, including adaptability to local protocols
Intended Audience:
The Heart & Stroke BLS course is designed for healthcare professionals and trained first responders who provide care to patients in a wide variety of both in-facility and prehospital settings or by those that require BLS certification and CPR training to enter into a healthcare-related training program
The BLS Provider course teaches learners to promptly recognize several life-threatening emergencies, give high-quality chest compressions, deliver appropriate ventilations, and provide early use of an AED. It includes adult, child, and infant rescue techniques. The BLS provider course includes realistic scenarios, simulations and state-of-the-art animations, and incorporates Heart & Stroke’s proven practice-while-watching video format to bring the science of the 2015 Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC to the front-line practitioner.
The Basic Life Support (BLS) Renewal course is a fast-paced course that allows the experienced BLS provider (those who are confident in their BLS skills through regular use in their work in the ED, CCU, ICU on code team, or paramedics and first responders) the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge through written and skills assessment in a concentrated program. Successful completion of this two hour course allows students to renew their BLS course completion card.
Course Completion Card & Expiration Date: All Heart &Stroke, Basic Life Support completion cards are valid for one year from the date of successful course completion.
Students who successfully complete the course will receive an email that provides access to their BLS Provider eCard. This electronic proof of course completion can be accessed directly online, downloaded or printed for convenience. A Heart & Stroke-printed course completion card is available for an additional fee.
To mitigate skills degradation, annual renewal of the BLS Course completion card is highly recommended. Research on skills retention and training have identified important outcomes:
- There is growing evidence that BLS knowledge and skills decay rapidly after initial training.
- Studies have demonstrated the deterioration of BLS skills within a few months after initial training.
- Studies examining the effect of brief, more frequent training sessions demonstrated improvement in chest compression performance and shorter time to defibrillation.
- Studies have found that students reported improved confidence and willingness to perform CPR after additional or high-frequency training.
Given how quickly BLS skills decay after training, and with the observed improvement in skill and confidence among students who train more frequently, students are encouraged to periodically review their Provider Manual and practice CPR and AED skills whenever possible.
BLS Renewal Course Prerequisites:
Heart & Stroke BLS Renewal course participants must have a current Heart & Stroke BLS course completion card (taken within the last 12 months and current to the most recent Guidelines release)
Students need to come prepared. The BLS Renewal course is fast-paced, assumes you have retained the cognitive knowledge learned in the Heart and Stroke BLS Provider course and can demonstrate skills mastery. There will be limited practice and limited opportunities for remedial coaching.
All participants are expected to be highly proficient BLS providers. This is not an entry-level course, those students who are unsuccessful in the skills or knowledge test will have to take a full BLS Provider course.
Required Student Materials:
Students must bring the most recent version of the BLS Provider manual with them to class for use throughout the course and as a source for the open resource exam.
- BLS Provider Manual – in print or eBook
Student resources can be conveniently purchased at Heart Shop, our online store by visiting: https://resuscitation.heartandstroke.ca/heartshop or clicking on the Shop for Training Materials button on the right side of the page. You can shop as a guest or log into your Resuscitation portal account to set up a Heart Shop account.
A minimum of 6 participants per course (Max: 12). Courses may be cancelled due to attendee numbers.
Registered nurses or nurse practitioners may qualify for reimbursement of the course fee upon successful completion of the course. You do not need to be a member of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. Please note this process does not include SimSinai Centre as it is a government-funded program. To register and apply visit the Nursing Education Initiative Grant Program site: http://rnao.ca/education-funding/nei
