CPR Training Objectives

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a combination of chest compressions and rescue breaths given to a victim whose heart has stopped pumping blood throughout the body, according to the American Heart Association; this condition is also known as cardiac arrest. CPR courses train an individual to recognize cardiac and breathing emergencies, assess the victim and provide basic care. According to the American Heart Association, "CPR can support a small amount of blood flow to the heart and brain to 'buy time' until normal heart function is restored.

Recognizing an Emergency

• The first objective of a CPR course, according to the American Red Cross, is to train participants to recognize an emergency and activate the emergency response system. This involves learning the main life-threatening conditions that occur, the signs of a heart attack and the steps to take during an emergency, such as calling 911.

  The CPR instructor will also teach the cardiac chain of survival, a process that helps maximize a victim's chance of survival.

Assessing the Victim

• After the participants learn to recognize an emergency, they are trained to assess a victim. Participants learn how to check an unconscious individual for signs of life, and have to demonstrate that they know how to properly check for breathing and feel for a pulse. CPR training participants will learn to determine whether CPR or some other first aid measure is appropriate, and identify any other life-threatening conditions.

Providing Basic Care

• Finally, the participants will learn to how to provide basic care to a victim, which involves demonstrating how to take basic precautions during cardiac and breathing emergencies, how to care for a conscious and unconscious choking individual and how to give compressions and breaths during CPR. Many CPR courses also train participants to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED), which delivers a shock to the heart to help it resume a normal rhythm.