Many jobs require CPR certification for employment. To obtain this, you'll need to take classes to learn the basics of different scenarios that might require using CPR, and you'll need live training on a CPR mannequin so you become familiar with how it feels to provide CPR on a person. You might find some classes online, but those usually need to be followed up with in-person skills classes. Here are some things you might learn in your CPR certification classes.
Child And Infant CPR
Child and infant CPR is important for parents and anyone who takes care of kids to learn. It's separate from adult CPR since the breaths and compressions per minute are higher than they are for adults and the chest compressions are done differently.
Infant CPR is done with fingers since an infant's chest is small and fragile. Child CPR is done with one hand. In the skills part of the class, you'll practice and test on a baby mannequin and a child mannequin.
Adult CPR
With adult CPR, you'll learn two approaches in CPR certification classes. One is for a witnessed collapse and the other is for unwitnessed. These are treated a little differently since you have a few seconds to call for help if you see someone go down. If you come upon someone who isn't breathing, you don't know how long they've been out, so you are instructed to begin CPR immediately and then call for help a few minutes after that.
In both cases, it's important to feel for a pulse and breathing so you don't start CPR on someone that has only fainted and doesn't need CPR. You'll learn the proper hand positions for CPR and how strong your compressions should be. Some CPR mannequins measure the depth and frequency of your compressions when you do your test to make sure you're effective at circulating blood through an adult body.
Choking
Helping someone who is choking takes a couple of approaches too. If the person is still conscious, you are taught to do the Heimlich maneuver on them. This maneuver consists of abdominal thrusts that try to force the blockage out of their throat. The thrusts are alternated with back blows.
This is done until the person is able to move air into their lungs or until they collapse. Abdominal thrusts and back blows are done differently on kids and adults, and it's important to take CPR certification classes to learn how to do both properly.
Once a person collapses due to a blocked airway, you can try to remove the blockage with your fingers if possible. If you can get the blockage out, you may need to continue with basic CPR if they don't have a pulse. Even if you can't get the blockage out, doing CPR might dislodge it and allow the person to start breathing again.