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What does it take to make the grade in a CPR test?
Some CPR/First Aid courses require an exam as part of the completion process. A couple of those courses include, but not limited to, American Heart Association BLS, American Red Cross BLS and CPR for Professional Rescuers. So how do you make the grade with these seemingly tricky questions. . . Well lets look at a couple of examples.
Lets see if you can guess the answer first. . . . . do you have a guess? You see a woman collapse in front of you while entering the lobby of your office building. You check the scene and then check the person for responsiveness and breathing. She does not respond but is breathing normally. What should you do next?
OK, lets break down the options:
We know our emergency action steps are Check, Call and Care. This is the typical sequence of events to help protect you in an emergency situation. The question has already said you have completed the two tiers of the check. You checked the scene and then you checked the person for responsiveness. . . if you are following standard protocol of the Check, Call and Care, you have completed the CHECK. The second step would be to CALL. The only option that mentioned CALL is option A, you can eliminate B, C and D because they do not proceed in to the CALL option.
Lets take a look at another question. Take a look and make a guess to see if you can select the correct answer. . . hold that thought.
OK, lets break down the options. We know if we have a bleeding wound we apply direct pressure, but this says we have a scalp (head) injury that is bleeding. . . Well under no circumstance should you ever place a tourniquet around someone's head so that automatically eliminates option D. We do not want to put hard direct pressure on a head, but we want to put light pressure on a head wound in case the skull is fractured so that eliminates option A. Now this only leaves direct pressure with either warm or cold packs. Well the best option of the two would be. . . Heat actually increases blood circulation by dilating blood vessels and cold restricts blood vessels. Even though it says direct, you would go with the cold to help slow bleeding.
Lets take one more option to see if this might help you pass that CPR test. . . you know the drill, make a guess first and then lets break down the options. . . and GO!
OK, so chest recoil is allowing the chest to come all the way back up before you push down again. So the risk of breaking ribs is already there so it is not going to reduce it so that eliminates option D. You are not changing you speed to the rate is not changing and that eliminates option C and since you are not changing rate, speed but trying to be consistent, there is nothing saying you will not get tired but there is not reduction in getting tired if you do this, in fact you will increase fatigue the longer you do CPR alone so that also eliminates option B, leaving only option A as a correct choice.
I hope you found these tips on breaking down the awkwardly worded questions on some of those CPR tests. As always, stay trained, be prepared, find a class and help save a life.
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Barbara Jackson worked through college as a non-traditional student earning her Master of Science degree in health science focusing in health education. Barbara then went on to set for her national credential exam in 2011 earning her CHES (Certified Health Education Specialist) credential as well as being a Licensed Training Provider. Barbara has found her calling as a teacher and began working as a volunteer with the American Red Cross and became a CPR instructor for the Red Cross in 2007, since this time she has earned her teaching credential for American Heart Association and National Safety Council. Barbara is also an adjunct instructor for Arkansas Tech University teaching Responding to Emergencies: Comprehensive First Aid/CPR courses.
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What does it take to make the grade in a CPR test?
Some CPR/First Aid courses require an exam as part of the completion process. A couple of those courses include, but not limited to, American Heart Association BLS, American Red Cross BLS and CPR for Professional Rescuers. So how do you make the grade with these seemingly tricky questions. . . Well lets look at a couple of examples.
Lets see if you can guess the answer first. . . . . do you have a guess? You see a woman collapse in front of you while entering the lobby of your office building. You check the scene and then check the person for responsiveness and breathing. She does not respond but is breathing normally. What should you do next?
OK, lets break down the options:
We know our emergency action steps are Check, Call and Care. This is the typical sequence of events to help protect you in an emergency situation. The question has already said you have completed the two tiers of the check. You checked the scene and then you checked the person for responsiveness. . . if you are following standard protocol of the Check, Call and Care, you have completed the CHECK. The second step would be to CALL. The only option that mentioned CALL is option A, you can eliminate B, C and D because they do not proceed in to the CALL option.
Lets take a look at another question. Take a look and make a guess to see if you can select the correct answer. . . hold that thought.
OK, lets break down the options. We know if we have a bleeding wound we apply direct pressure, but this says we have a scalp (head) injury that is bleeding. . . Well under no circumstance should you ever place a tourniquet around someone's head so that automatically eliminates option D. We do not want to put hard direct pressure on a head, but we want to put light pressure on a head wound in case the skull is fractured so that eliminates option A. Now this only leaves direct pressure with either warm or cold packs. Well the best option of the two would be. . . Heat actually increases blood circulation by dilating blood vessels and cold restricts blood vessels. Even though it says direct, you would go with the cold to help slow bleeding.
Lets take one more option to see if this might help you pass that CPR test. . . you know the drill, make a guess first and then lets break down the options. . . and GO!
OK, so chest recoil is allowing the chest to come all the way back up before you push down again. So the risk of breaking ribs is already there so it is not going to reduce it so that eliminates option D. You are not changing you speed to the rate is not changing and that eliminates option C and since you are not changing rate, speed but trying to be consistent, there is nothing saying you will not get tired but there is not reduction in getting tired if you do this, in fact you will increase fatigue the longer you do CPR alone so that also eliminates option B, leaving only option A as a correct choice.
I hope you found these tips on breaking down the awkwardly worded questions on some of those CPR tests. As always, stay trained, be prepared, find a class and help save a life.
Vlad Magdalin
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