Prior to your licensure exam for CPRs, you first need to attend a Virginia-approved CPR classes and training program. Such a program is usually offered by health organizations like the American Red Cross, state hospitals, universities and independent CPR training schools. You will be trained by qualified instructors who received training from the American Heart Association, suggesting that they have met the guidelines and standards of the said association. This is important to make sure that you can take the licensure exam later on, as Virginia do not allow students who received CPR training from a non-approved school. During your CPR class, you will be engaged in active class participation through lectures, audio and visual presentation and hands-on experience. The classroom instruction will run for a certain amount of days according to the established requirements of the state. For example, you must complete and pass 60 hours of CPR academic classes before you are able to pursue the practical training in another facility. You can complete your CPR classes and training Virginia program within 6 weeks. It is during this time where you have familiarized yourself with the basic concepts of life support, CPR techniques and medical emergency response etiquette. Your instructor should have provided you with lively presentation of what could possibly happen in real-life scenarios to prepare you for it. As a CPR professional, it is expected of you to respond to life and death situations to revive the patient being treated outside of the hospital. You must know how to perform first aid and AED when necessary and do it in good faith. This way, you can avoid incurring further injury on the patient, although you will not be considered liable for it. Going back to the CPR training program, the second phase of the course will delve much into the actual CPR experience. You will need to demonstrate your CPR techniques on a dummy-patient while your CPR classes and training Virginia instructor is guiding you. In some cases, you will have to use a certain technique appropriate for the situation and the age of the patient. If the victim is a child, hands-only CPR is the most recommended technique to be administered. For a more delicate situation, a combination of chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation may be necessary. This technique is also known as the 5 and 5 CPR. Apparently, there are basic and advanced life support techniques that you should learn before becoming a licensed CPR in Virginia.