The importance of CPR recertification in the dental office
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, my business partner and I set up our manikins to teach a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) class. When not one student had arrived for the class, I called the person in charge. She said the students were at one location, and we were at another. She suggested we reschedule, but I said, “Give us 15 minutes and we’ll be there.”
We proceeded with a typical class, but one woman was very nervous and unsure of her skills. We worked diligently with her until she managed to correctly perform CPR. As the class wrapped up, she approached me and said, “I’m here because I have to take this to keep my job, but I’ll never be able to do this in a real emergency. I appreciate you spending so much time with me.”
On Monday afternoon we received a call from her. She told us that her coworker had shown up for work and immediately gone into cardiac arrest. What did our student do? She called 911, started CPR, and saved her coworker’s life!
Twenty years into my career as a registered dental hygienist, with 10 years of CPR recertifications, and I still looked forward to the biannual CPR recertification class. Why? Because I viewed the retraining to be just as important as all my other clinical skills rather than something I had to check off a list to keep my hygiene license.
Why is CPR training for dental staff important?
CPR is a critical life-saving skill that everyone in the dental office and beyond should possess. In the event of a cardiac arrest, immediate CPR can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival. Emergencies can happen at any time, anywhere, and quick, effective action can save lives. While in the office, your patients will certainly look to you for help in a critical situation, and you and your team need to be confident and ready to act. Regular CPR training ensures you are adept and capable.
Annual or biannual recertification is critical, but it’s best if you make a habit of reviewing the procedures once a month. Please do not look at CPR training as just another CE requirement! In my more than 40 years of working in the dental office, I’ve encountered numerous medical emergencies, from a patient fainting in my chair to projectile vomiting, and even a choking incident.
During one typical day at the office, I sat my third patient for the day: a young female who was very far along in her pregnancy. Immediately after sitting in my chair, her water broke, and things quickly got crazy. Would you know what to do? I’m thankful that I did.
Another incident was a long-time patient who was checking out at the front desk, and I overheard him becoming very upset with the office manager. Normally a very nice man, his unusual behavior reminded me that he was diabetic, and he could be having a blood sugar episode. I rushed to the front desk to stop him before he got in his car, which could have resulted in a fatal accident! Situations like these led me to become a certified AHA CPR instructor.
How CPR Sisters came to be
My sister Darla and I formed CPR Sisters 25 years ago and began our journey. We thought we would be mostly recertifying dental office staff. Instead, we forged a completely different path when we were introduced to two mothers who had lost their children to sudden cardiac arrest.
We now spend most of our time educating communities about why defibrillators are important where children are at play. We’re also working to get AEDs (automated external defibrillator) in all Georgia schools. We took part in a $1 million grant program and trained hundreds of people throughout Georgia and the southeast.
We’ve taught in many different environments, from major corporations to softball fields, helping people prepare for medical emergencies. Over time, we realized we could best serve our community by becoming certified instructor trainers to elevate the quality of CPR instructors.
We taught CPR, first aid, and instructor classes for years, and then the pandemic hit. Guidelines changed, and we immediately got to work on developing an innovative way to teach virtual CPR that still incorporates live, hands-on skills evaluation. This enabled us to teach virtually and continue to share these critical, lifesaving skills in a safe environment during a worldwide crisis.
This approach was a leap of faith for us, and while we had hope that this new learning platform would be effective, we had no idea how successful it would be.
Virtual CPR classes have proven to be very efficient and effective; students not only learn better, they deeply retain this critical information, thus instilling more confidence in their skills. Why? Because they receive more one-on-one time with the instructor, and they get as much time as they need, in the comfort of their home or office, to practice with CPR manikins, bag masks, and AED trainers.
Offices and corporations prefer this approach because it eliminates or reduces employee time away from work for recertification classes. Students can manage the requirements on their own time in a low stress environment. We are building students’ confidence in their life-saving skills and truly saving more lives!
How to prepare your dental office
I urge you to make sure that everyone in your office is trained in medical emergencies and that you have the proper supplies on hand. Is everyone in your office trained in CPR? Do you have an emergency medical kit? Where is it stored? Do you have a defibrillator? Is it up to date? Have the pads or battery expired? Does everyone in the office know where it is?
Is one person in charge of staying up to date with emergency supplies? These are some of the critical details to consider.
We can help you save lives. Let’s make these critical skills in CPR a “want to” not a “have to” situation. If you would like more information about our innovative approach to virtual CPR, contact us at [email protected] or visit the CPR Sisters Training website.
