Bot Bucks Redemption Period in November

We’re offering some Thanksgiving thanks to our Training Centers next month with a November Bot Bucks redemption period. From November 12-23, 2018, use your accrued Bot Bucks on student completion packs and other HSI-produced materials.

Want to rack up a few more Bucks in your account? Visit our Bot Bucks page for a reminder of all the qualifying acts you can do to accrue Bot Bucks. There’s still time to earn more, but act now: November 12 will be here before you know it.

We’ll send you an email on November 12 to announce the opening of the redemption period and the promo code to use to redeem your Bucks. We’ll also post that information on our social media pages, along with a reminder before the redemption period ends, so be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn so you won’t miss any important news from us.

The Art of Teaching Hands-On Skills in Group Practice Sessions

ASHI and MEDIC First Aid programs emphasize group practice sessions to allow students to use both cognitive understanding and hands-on practice to develop the effective psychomotor skills they need to deliver safe, effective emergency care.

These small group, hands-on skill practices feature role-playing and peer coaching, and completely immerse students into active learning.

Your Role in Hands-On Skill Development

Seeing is believing
High-quality skill demonstrations by the instructor are of critical importance, because students will initially model their skills on what they see demonstrated. Develop and maintain your demonstration skills through review and practice.

Set up for success
Hands-on practice sessions involve preparation ahead of time. Be sure your manikins, AED trainers, CPR masks, first aid supplies, and consumable materials are ready before each class. Don’t forget the cleaning supplies to take care of your equipment afterwards.

• Allow about 50 square feet (7 ft. by 7 ft.) for each small group whenever possible.
• Set up equipment and supplies for the group practice areas prior to class to avoid confusion and delay during your class.
• Allow for sufficient practice time in class. Provide additional practice time if needed.

Managing your sessions
Practice sessions can easily get out of hand from a time perspective. Use effective techniques to efficiently manage student movement through the small group experience, as they rotate through the roles of a care provider, ill or injured person, and coach.

Student-centered active learning requires the constant engagement of the instructor. If students perceive that you are not engaged, they may lose focus and give up. Roam through groups and look for issues in skill performance and to offer encouragement as well.

When unmonitored, students can engage in unproductive behavior. Monitor conversations and observe student actions closely to ensure everyone stays on task.

Be alert for students who drop out. Make sure all students participate, and help those who appear to be struggling, especially with psychomotor skills.

Measure the effectiveness of your facilitation approach by looking for changes in behavior that clearly demonstrate a positive effect. Offer positive feedback on proper skill performance; the encouragement of correctly demonstrated skills will improve the retention of competent skill performance.

Think of facilitation as a fluid and ongoing experience that requires constant feedback, evaluation, and adjustment. As you become more experienced as an instructor, your facilitation skills should improve.

Top 5 Reasons for Using the Advanced Bleeding Control Programs from ASHI and MEDIC First Aid

Traumatic injury is one of the leading causes of death for people under 50 years of age in the U.S. A large portion of those deaths are the direct result of severe, heavy bleeding.

Survival is dependent on how quickly bleeding can be controlled. Unfortunately, death from heavy bleeding can occur rapidly, within minutes, and prior to the arrival of EMS providers.

Recent mass casualty events in the U.S. have highlighted the need for more immediate care. Rapid bleeding control from bystanders has shown to be significantly more successful in saving lives than waiting for EMS.

Advancements in the capability of commercial bleeding control devices, such as pressure bandages, tourniquets, and packed dressings have lessened concerns about using them. When needed, these devices are easy-to-use and extremely effective, even by minimally trained providers.

Just like AEDs for sudden cardiac arrest, there is growing interest in making commercial bleeding control devices more publicly available and training as many people as possible in their use.

You can help. We’ve compiled the top 5 reasons to consider using the ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Advanced Bleeding Control programs at your Training Center. These programs are:

1. Current – In October of 2015, the White House launched the Stop the Bleed campaign to encourage bystanders to become trained and equipped to help in a bleeding emergency, prior to the arrival of EMS. Our Advanced Bleeding Control programs are specifically designed to train bystanders in bleeding control measures, including the use of commercial bleeding control devices.
2. Proven –The recommendations for using tourniquets to control heavy bleeding increasingly favor their use. Most of this change has come about as a result of their successful use by the military in U.S. combat operations over the last few decades. The ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Advanced Bleeding Control programs can help you offer this lifesaving training to others.
3. Flexible – These programs are designed to specifically focus on the commercial bleeding control devices that are available for use. Brand-specific lessons are available for the most popular commercial bleeding control devices available. Cover only what you need to.
4. Economical – Our Advanced Bleeding Control programs use low-cost instructor and student training materials to provide standalone, focused training on how to control heavy bleeding. If you are already a first aid instructor, you are eligible to purchase and use the programs. No additional instructor training required.
5. Effective – The interactive delivery and review of cognitive information throughout the programs, along with plenty of hands-on practice, will improve the quality of skills and help maintain the ability to effectively respond to a bleeding emergency.

Interested in making your own bleeding control prop to use in tourniquet practice in your classes? Download our PDF instruction sheet and check out our tutorial video. 

Training Center Profiles

Meet Your Peers

Discover what your peers are thinking about the emergency care industry, the challenges their TCs face, and the solutions they’ve found in their quest to make their workplaces and communities safer.

TC Name: Hands Down CPR

Brand: MEDIC First Aid

Director: Kara Schoonveld

City, State: Sacramento, CA

Website:   www.handsdowncpr.co

Type of Training Center: External (Training for individuals or organizations for a fee)

Business Structure: Sole proprietor

How long have you been in business?

1.5 years

What is the biggest challenge for you and your business?

Expenses and finding new customers

How do you market your business? (ranked in order of importance)

1. Website
2. Direct mail
3. Email marketing
4. Online advertising

What strategies or investments have proven to be a waste of time and money?

Mailers to local gyms/fitness centers

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Take a marketing course early on

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

Expanding training opportunities to increase effective bystander response to emergency situations

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

Building my website

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

HSI, AHA, & NAEMT

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

That you'll get sued if you crack someone’s rib, and that a heart attack is the same as sudden cardiac arrest

Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?

While in the grocery store, an adult male had his first-ever seizure. My student immediately ran to stabilize his head and instructed bystanders to call 911.

 
TC Name: Georgia Aquarium Academy

Brand: ASHI

Director: Terri Frazier

City, State: Atlanta, GA

Type of Training Center: Internal (Training for employees/members at no charge)

Business Structure: For-profit corporation

How long have you been in business?

13 years, with 9 years training staff and volunteers

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

Starting to offer CPR and first aid the general public as a revenue source. Currently we only offer ASHI courses to staff and docents.

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Have a designated spot for storage of equipment

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

That CPR can be completed online without attending an in-person class

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

Logo’d CPR pocket masks for all students to take with them. This is a great way to help them be prepared.

What strategies have proved to be a waste of time and money?

Offering too many courses that end up not having enough students

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

Conferences

Is emergency care (or other workplace safety) training your primary job function at your organization?

Yes

What is the biggest training challenge at your company?

Budget and employee downtime

What has your company done to make safety part of the day-to-day culture?

Monthly safety meetings

Please share a success story about how you increased corporate leadership buy-in and support for your emergency care training efforts.

Offering training for staff and volunteers to help them aid our guests with emergency care should the need arise

What is the most difficult part of managing an internal Training Center?

Buy-in from management and working within a limited budget

Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?

We had one student who, after completing a CPR course, was able to revive a sudden cardiac arrest victim.

 We want to hear from you!

Share your wisdom with your TC peers by completing one of our 15-minute profile surveys.

If your TC provides training for individuals or organizations for a fee, click the "External TC" button. For those TCs that offer training for employees/members at no charge, choose "Internal TC."

HSI Regulatory: Program Approvals

In your interactions with the ASHI and MEDIC First Aid teams at HSI, you’ve probably engaged with our regulatory and quality assurance staff at some point. But do you know all the things these hard-working folks do to support your Training Center? This month, we would like to introduce you to the world of program approvals and accreditation, and how emergency care training regulations can drive your training business.

Kristal Langner, our Regulatory Approval Manager, is the go-to person for assistance in determining which of our programs are accepted by regulatory agencies and other organizational approvers who establish occupational licensing and emergency care training requirements. As you discovered in our April newsletter, we provide a database through Otis with detailed information on approvals of ASHI and MEDIC First Aid training programs by occupation/industry and regulating body. (Missed that article? You can read it here.)

Kristal uses our legislative and regulatory database to track developing federal and state legislation and proposed regulations that may directly impact our Training Centers and the people they train. When a regulation or organizational directive mandates specific emergency care training in any given industry, Kristal is there to make the case that our programs should be accepted.

Her correspondence with these regulatory agencies and other organizational approvers usually includes program samples, proposals, and fact sheets. This correspondence then becomes part of our approval database that provides supporting materials our instructors can use to educate customers on how our training meets their needs. “Occasionally, HSI is excluded from proposed regulatory language simply through unfamiliarity,” she says. “Once we make our case for acceptance, which we base on the quality of our programs and our national accreditation and extensive acceptance, our programs are normally accepted.  Sometimes it’s a challenge, but the wins are always worth it.”

Kristal also uses our legislative and regulatory database to watch for developing health and safety training requirements. “Our epinephrine auto-injector training programs were created to respond to an emerging regulatory need. We use that information to work with our Production team to ensure we’re making the programs our TCs will need. We want to be pro-active, not re-active,” she explains. “We take a lot of pride in our regulatory work, and in what HSI does to make the workplace and community safer. I love my job and the opportunity to be a resource for our instructors, even when I feel cross-eyed from reading regulations all day,” Kristal says. “I want to be our instructors' number one advocate with regulatory agencies, and I’m proud to work on their behalf every day.”

A key factor in gaining approvals for our programs is HSI’s organizational accreditation as a CAPCE educational provider. CAPCE is the national accrediting body for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) continuing education courses and course providers. Maintaining CAPCE accreditation requirements is the task of Nicole Printup, our Accreditation Manager.

Nicole’s primary focus is on our 24-7 EMS and 24-7 Fire brands, which provide lifelong learning and quality continuing education solutions for the EMS profession. “There are a number of ASHI courses that also provide CE hours for this audience,” she says, “But CAPCE accreditation is really important for all of our ASHI and MEDIC First Aid TCs. That national accreditation is often a key factor for regulatory acceptance of occupationally-required emergency care training. This is because, in order to remain nationally accredited, we undergo a stringent process to verify we are meeting rigorous academic standards every three years. When new continuing education standards emerge, we update our programs and production processes to ensure we are providing high quality education. This is not simple or easy, but we are proud that HSI has been continuously accredited for more than ten years. It’s a reflection of our commitment to excellence.”

Next month’s newsletter will take a closer look at another important function of our Regulatory team, as we delve into the quality assurance process. If you aren’t on our monthly email newsletter list, you can subscribe here.