What Is BCLS Certification?

Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification is a qualification demonstrating that someone has completed a BCLS course and successfully passed the examinations administered at the end of the course. People with BCLS certification can provide some simple interventions to people in need of emergency medical attention. Such courses do not require medical knowledge and are open to members of the general public as well as care providers.

In a BCLS certification course, students learn about how to assess victims. The course focuses on stabilizing the airway, breathing, and circulation of a patient while waiting for professional help to arrive. This includes the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillators (AEDs), two lifesaving techniques that can be used to prevent damage to someone's brain from lack of oxygen while waiting for emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and doctors to provide more advanced treatment.

Also known as basic life support or BLS, BCLS does not involve teaching people invasive techniques and students are not trained in the use of drugs utilized by emergency medical personnel in life threatening situations. Both of these are advanced life support skills that require medical training to be administered safely. BCLS certification classes are intended to provide people with basic knowledge that will be easy to remember and draw upon in an emergency situation where rapid intervention may be critical.

In addition to teaching people about appropriate interventions in life threatening situations, BCLS provides people with education about protecting themselves. This includes teaching people about using barrier methods during CPR, avoiding blood to blood contact, and other potential risks. People providing assistance can be vulnerable to injury themselves, and it is important to avoid creating unnecessary risk while trying to render aid. Learning to assess situations as well as patients is an important skill people can use to provide assistance in dangerous environments like car accidents.

Attendees of a BCLS certification course must be able to pass a written exam at the end of the class. The exam tests people on basic understanding and competencies. In addition, students usually must pass a demonstration exam where they show an instructor the techniques they have learned with the assistance of a dummy. In some classes, the dummies may have on board computers that provide feedback to test takers and students. Successful completion of the exams will result in issuance of a BCLS certification, good for a period of timen such as one or two years.