CPR or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is an emergency medical technique which, when learned, can often be effectively used to prevent a person’s death by cardiac arrest. The rhythmic application of pressure on the proper sections of the chest stimulates the heart to resume its function again. While this would be the short description, in truth, someone trained in CPR and first aid knows much more than just the basic procedure, enabling him/her to save lives in various emergency situations. Now, the question is, should you learn CPR? To be honest, everyone should have at least the basic knowledge about performing CPR because emergencies can happen at any time and to anyone. However, what we are going to discuss here today is the question regarding whether or not CPR can indeed have an impact on your career and general life in the future.
It Will Augment Your Education
If you complete your CPR certification online, you will not have to worry about managing classes and adjusting your schedule to accommodate two different programs. Instead, you will have a flexible schedule, which will let you complete your main field of education unhindered while augmenting it at the same time with a CPR program on the side. Additional credentials are always viewed with a favourable eye by companies and if that involves some sort of emergency medical qualification, it’s the best kind of augmentation to any field of education.
You Will Have an Edge Over the Competition
It’s a fact that CPR training and the subsequent certification gives you an instant edge over the competition in almost every field. The law dictates that every employer should have at least one person present within the working environment who has the necessary knowledge to perform first aid as and when required. It isn’t hard to imagine that when you apply for a job and you are the only person in the waiting room with a CPR certificate, your chances of getting the job are significantly increased. You may never even have to handle a single emergency situation throughout your time in the company, but you will still have that edge over most other people when it comes to being selected.
Job Security
The more valuable you are to your employer, the more secure your job is, and it’s as simple as that. Whatever field of work that you choose to be in the future, having an additional qualification will most likely increase your value. However, when that qualification happens to be something that can save lives and is a legal requirement for employers to have present in their work place, it would be safe to say that your job definitely becomes more secure with a CPR certification. Every company is always looking to cut costs. Hiring another person just for the legal medical requirement when they can already have a person who can do both the work they need and who ticks a legal box, is not something that will likely happen.
Better Salary
This one isn’t guaranteed, but it isn’t uncommon for companies to pay someone with a first aid and CPR qualification a little extra, just so that they don’t have to pay full salary to a dedicated medical professional. It might or might not be mentioned in the agreement, but businesses likely won’t negate the opportunity to pay a bit more to save a lot more. You might even be able to negotiate for it if the situation is right. After all, having a first aid expert at any business facility is indeed a legal requirement.
Emergency Man
The advantage of being trained to deal with medical emergencies transcends just the medical aspect of it. When in employment, you will be better equipped to handle tense, emergency situations while most other people won’t be, and employers will most definitely be noticing that part about you. The ability to handle pressure will help you overcome challenges to rise in your career faster, as you will be the emergency man on whom everyone will depend. This adds one more dimension to the advantage of enjoying job security as a valuable employee in an organization; if you are an emergency asset to your employers, you will see professional progress faster as well.
Confidence Booster
Just the very knowledge that one is well equipped to deal with emergencies is a confidence booster, but once you actually face a few real situations and come out on top, your experience, in combination with your training, will give you a boost in confidence like nothing else. As confidence is the number one common thing among all successful people in the history of mankind, it’s safe to say that you will find this boost in confidence to be nurturing in both your personal and professional life.
You Could Become a Leader
One of the main differences between a leader and everyone else is that during a particularly trying situation, he/she will take control of the situation while the rest will either be confused, in shock or won’t know what to do. A leader knows what to do and how to do it. Since these are traits that usually come naturally with first aid and CPR training, they will carry over to your workplace as well. These leadership qualities could potentially let you assume a leadership role down the line.
You Will Save Lives Everywhere
Let’s now come to the most important reason as to why one should be completing a CPR qualification and that reason is to save lives. With millions of people suffering from cardiac arrests each year around the world, anyone who is an expert at Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is going to prove invaluable to society. In fact, he/she instantaneously becomes invaluable to his family, office, and at just about any place. The mortality rate is very high for people with cardiac arrests because they often pass away even before the emergency services get there. If more people knew CPR then those numbers would be much lower.
You May Just Save Your Family
It has been found that a majority of cardiac arrests happen at home, either during the night or during the early hours of the morning. These are the times when it’s the hardest to find help and by the time help finally arrives, it’s already too late most of the time. If you know CPR, you could be the difference between life and death for one of your older family members, as those skills you learned at the program will purchase a precious few minutes that the patient needs to survive until the emergency services get there.
You Could Empower Others to Do the Same
Once you do learn the basics of emergency medical care, you become one of those few people who have the ability to empower others to do the same by teaching them basic CPR. Of course, without completing a proper program from an institution like the National CPR Foundation, they will not be able to do too much, but even the little help which they will bring to those around them could be a big difference in medical emergencies. It is about spreading knowledge and this is the knowledge that we should all possess for our own good. Besides, even if you know CPR, you won’t be able to perform it on yourself if the need ever arises, so it’s wise to make sure that at least some of your family members also complete the course or learn the basics from you.
More CPR Experts are Needed
As mentioned in the previous point, the high rate of mortality from cardiac arrests could be brought down significantly if only more people knew CPR. It isn’t an uncommon incident when someone collapses in the middle of the street and people begin calling the emergency lines. However, what is uncommon is seeing someone from the crowd stepping up and performing CPR in the right manner to help that person survive till the authorities get there. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it’s just that it doesn’t happen enough and this is why more and more people need to pay attention to basic CPR training because there just aren’t enough people out there who know how to help in such situations.
Any trained medical professional is an asset to the community, his/her workplace, and just about anywhere. While a first aid and CPR expert may not have all the qualifications of a trained nurse or a doctor, that’s okay because that’s not what this particular course is supposed to be. Instead, it is the essential training, which should ideally be completed by everyone. In practice, however, the qualification is only possessed by a few, essentially making it priceless in certain situations.
These courses are not specialized job-oriented programs by nature and that’s exactly what makes them so very useful. CPR courses are easy to learn and if you go online, they hardly take up any significant time in your daily schedule, but even then, the little they teach about saving lives is incredibly useful in everyday life.