Effective CPR: Could your Life be in the Hands of your Co-Workers?
Many people don’t think about the possibility of needing medical assistance while at work, they just simply attend work as usual and go about their days, weeks, months, years, and decades working. However, what if the unthinkable were to actually happen? What if you were to require CPR at work? Would your co-workers be knowledgeable enough and capable of administering CPR to save your life? These are very real and very scary questions to consider. However, even though this situation is not very enjoyable to contemplate, it is better to be safe than sorry. The plain and simple reality is that approximately 400 employees die at work each year due to cardiac arrest according to OSHA’s reports.
Ongoing CPR Training is a MUST!
Many workplaces consider the need for CPR, and have a number of CPR trained employees which are certified to respond to any accident requiring CPR assistance, they are often referred to as first responders. However, are these people truly capable of saving a life? While these people often attend annual CPR trainings, annual trainings usually aren’t enough to deliver truly effective knowledge and training. In fact, according to a number of different studies, CPR training retention drops off dramatically after only a few short weeks. Furthermore, one study showed that only one third of CPR trained employees could provide lifesaving CPR skills just six months after a CPR training. If CPR retention is so low there must be practices put into place to make sure these people are trained often and with adequacy. Instead of annual or bi-annual trainings, short monthly trainings may prove to be most effective. A short half-hour CPR refresher training each month would not only keep valuable CPR lifesaving skills polished, but it would also help enhance the confidence level in first responding employees so if the time did arise when they must respond they are able to do so with confidence.
Could ALL Employees Be Trained in CPR?
The answer is yes, and it would be a good practice to implement. In addition to a group of highly trained CPR responders, all other employees could at the very least be trained annually in the practices of CPR. This would be beneficial so that if someone does require CPR assistance, any employee in the vicinity could begin responding while a higher trained employee is en route, all while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive. Just think about it, if you were laying helplessly on the floor of your workplace waiting for CPR assistance, would you rather just sit and wait breathless or would you rather have someone start the CPR process right away? Most of us would say we would like to start the reviving process immediately, I know I would.
The key to an effective CPR program is to have regular and ongoing CPR training sessions for first responders, and to hold (at the very least) annual CPR trainings for ALL employees within the workplace. When it comes to the practices of CPR it is better to be ready and prepared, especially when a life hangs in the balance.
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