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Is BLS Certification same as CPR Certification and First Aid Certification?

Whats the difference between BLS , CPR and First Aid Certification?

Thanks All :)

Public Comments

1. As far as I know its the same thing. BLS is CPR which is basic life support which is cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, there are different courses of BLS/CPR for different jobs. Nurses get more advanced training than a phlebotomist or a nurses aid would require. So it depends on the particular reason or career discipline you need it for.

2. BLS (more commonly called BCLS) is Basic Cardiac Life Support. It is a standardized set of skills that includes forms of CPR that are more advanced than those usually taught to lay responders. BCLS is roughly equal to the Red Crosses 'CPR for the Professional Responder' class.

CPR by itself is a simple set of skills- to be CPR certified means you have learned a core set of skills, and whatever else the certifiying agency decided to include.

Similarly, First Aid is the care given to people in the field, and again, there is not a lot of standardization between certification programs.