Red Cross CPR Guidelines and Training Online
In emergency situations where someone suffers cardiac arrest or pulmonary arrest, i.e. their heart stops beating or they stop breathing, CPR can be used to keep their vital organs healthy until more extensive medical help arrives, or until the patient regains their vital signs.
CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which basically involves sqeezing and releasing the heart by pressure to maintain blood flow and inflating and deflating the lungs to maintain the bare minimum oxygenation of the person’s blood to prevent tissue damage due to lack of oxygen.
You will find plenty of resources online to learn the basics of CPR and how it works, but the Red Cross has specific guidelines and techniques it considers as standard requirements to allow health care and emergency service professionals to aquire basic skills and advanced certification in CPR techniques to make them more effective in the field. Here are some of the main starting points online to explore the Red Cross CPR techiniques, training and certification for both professionals and lay persons.
- Prepare for Emergencies with American Red Cross First Aid, CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Courses by taking a class. Details of procedures and requirements at various location scan be found on the Red Cross’s own site.
American Red Cross first aid, CPR and AED programs - This site on American Red Cross online training lets you learn valuable lifesaving skills at your own pace and on your own time. It also includes more situation specific information and and more details as to which areas the training is available in.
American Red Cross online training - Here is a more general interest introduction to the subject of CPR and the Red Cross recognised guidelines for the procedure and eHow.
American Red Cross CPR Guidelines - CPR Dude gives American Red Cross CPR, AED, and First Aid training to laypersons. This site provides information about CPR, and also help with very specific emergency situations, such as choking, and various useful CPR related resources and FAQs.
CPR Dude - If you’re more of an audio-visual person, this sample introductory video on the subject of CPR might be a good place to start for basic information, and YouTube has plenty more to browse through on th subject.
Hope this short list of resources gets you started in your quest for Red Cross CPR guides and information.
