CPR Certification for Nurses and Nursing Students in New Jersey: Which Class Do You Need?
Are you a nurse in New Jersey or a current nursing student trying to figure out which CPR class you need to take?
Most nursing schools, hospitals, and healthcare facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware require nurses and nursing students to complete the American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider course.
But as nurses, we know that CPR training is much more than getting a certification card for work or school. It's about knowing how to recognize when a patient needs immediate help and having the skills to respond.
Why Is Basic Life Support So Important for Nurses?
As a critical care nurse, I understand the importance of being able to quickly identify when a patient needs immediate assistance.
As nurses, we spend more time with our patients than many other healthcare providers. We are often the first to notice when a patient is becoming less responsive, having difficulty breathing, or deteriorating.
Basic Life Support teaches nurses how to quickly assess a patient, identify when CPR is needed, and begin lifesaving interventions.
This includes recognizing an unresponsive patient, checking for a pulse, identifying abnormal breathing such as agonal gasps, knowing when to call a Code Blue, and beginning high-quality chest compressions.
What Do Nurses Learn in the AHA BLS Provider Course?
Our hands-on AHA BLS Provider course teaches nurses and other healthcare professionals how to perform CPR on adults, children, and infants.
During our classes, we practice:
Recognizing when a patient is unresponsive or not breathing normally.
Checking for a pulse and knowing when to begin CPR.
Performing high-quality chest compressions.
Opening and maintaining an airway.
Providing effective breaths using a bag-mask device.
Using an automated external defibrillator (AED).
Working together during a cardiac arrest.
We also discuss how responding to an emergency in a hospital may be different from responding in a physician's office, outpatient facility, or long-term care facility.
The skills are the same, but the equipment available and how help arrives may be different.
Are You Prepared to Respond During a Code Blue?
As a nurse, you need to know how to respond immediately while additional help is coming.
During our BLS classes, we practice the different roles nurses and other healthcare professionals may perform during a resuscitation. This includes performing chest compressions, providing bag-mask ventilations, operating the AED, and communicating with other members of the response team.
We also spend time practicing bag-mask ventilation because knowing how to maintain a patient's airway and deliver effective breaths is an important skill for nurses.
We want everyone to understand their role and how to work together to give the patient the best possible chance of a positive outcome.
“This is an amazing place to get BLS training. The instructor, Michelle, is phenomenal, informative, and kind. The training class is organized and thorough with lots of hands-on opportunities. I would highly recommend this class to everyone!”
Why We Teach BLS In Person
At Active Assist HCS – CPR Training Center, most of our classes are taught by nurses with critical care experience.
We understand that every emergency doesn't always look exactly the same. Nurses often have questions about situations they've experienced at work or how they should respond depending on their clinical setting.
Our 100% in-person classes allow us to have those conversations, answer questions, and spend time practicing the skills.
It's one thing to watch someone perform CPR or use a bag-mask device. It's another thing to actually practice those skills yourself and have an instructor there to provide feedback.
Our goal is for nurses and nursing students to leave class understanding not just what to do, but why they're doing it.
AHA BLS Certification for New Jersey Nurses and Nursing Students
Whether you're beginning nursing school, preparing for clinical rotations, starting a new nursing position, or renewing your certification, our AHA BLS Provider classes are designed for both new and experienced healthcare professionals.
At our training center in Turnersville, New Jersey, we offer morning and evening BLS classes throughout the week.
Our AHA BLS Provider course includes:
$79 per person
3 hours of in-person training
No online coursework required
Same-day AHA BLS Provider Card
Certification valid for 2 years
Hands-on CPR, AED, and bag-mask ventilation practice
Instruction from experienced nurse instructors
We welcome nurses and nursing students from Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, and surrounding South Jersey counties, as well as Pennsylvania and Delaware.
We know responding to an emergency can be scary at first, but the better trained you are, the less fearful and more confident you'll feel when responding.
Active Assist HCS – CPR Training Center
108 Greentree Road, Turnersville, NJ
