Basic Life Support (BLS) refers to the medical care provided by emergency medical teams and healthcare professionals to individuals experiencing cardiac arrest and respiratory distress.
Some acute hospitals require specific specialized caregivers hold multiple different types of CPR certifications to ensure they are able to care for all types of patients that may come to their specific department. Check out this article for more information
Given the critical role BLS skills play in safe, quality patient care, many of our facility partners require healthcare professionals to have OSHA-compliant BLS certification to work at their locations. In other words, you’ll have access to more preferred shifts in the ShiftMed app with this credential than with CPR certification alone.
After all, BLS certification involves understanding team dynamics, identifying life-threatening emergencies, and using appropriate tools and treatment measures.
If you don’t have BLS certification, you can get the appropriate training through the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross. Both organizations offer face-to-face training in the classroom or a blended learning model that combines online coursework with hands-on skills training.
Take note that all OSHA-compliant BLS training must include an in-person skills assessment.
American Heart Association: Basic Life Support (BLS) Course: Click Here
American Red Cross: Click Here
This BLS course is for healthcare professionals who need to know how to perform CPR and other basic cardiovascular life support skills in various in-facility and pre-hospital settings.
On the American Heart Association website, you can search for classes by city, state, or zip code to find the nearest training center.
You can then apply filters to identify a BLS provider, BLS provider skills session, or BLS renewal locations.
American Red Cross: BLS/CPR for Healthcare Course: Click Here
This BLS course for healthcare providers covers everything from CPR administration and AED usage to critical thinking and problem-solving.
Your search results will display courses near your identified location and can be sorted by date and refined by location and class format.
If you have questions about BLS certification as it relates to the ShiftMed credentialing process, please contact us at (800) 485-9002.