Yes, I know the June schedule is not posted yet. I haven’t done it as I’m reviewing how all the courses will be scheduled due to the change in course outlines.
The 2015 Guidelines materials are being released, BLS came out in February, Heartsaver has just been released. The course outlines are different than the previous versions.
While the changes to BLS are slight, Team Dynamics and a High-Performance Team Activity have been added to the course. This means that I cannot technically continue to offer a fast-paced 2.5-hour recert. The BLS outline is 4 hours. While I have come up with a way to do the course in 2.5 hours, it misses a lot of the video material. I’m actually impressed with most of the new BLS DVD and don’t want to skip parts of it. Parts of the DVD I have begun skipping though are some of the practice-while-watching sections. They use computer generated characters and I’ve found so far that the class finds them distracting and don’t fully practice-while-watching. They just watch. So we’ve practiced the sections without the DVD.
I’ve watched most of the new Heartsaver DVD, and it uses the same format and scenario-based instruction as the BLS DVD. The scenarios are very good and illustrate each section very well. The timeline is my challenge. Heartsaver CPR AED has gone from a 3-hour class to a 4.5-hour class. Heartsaver First Aid has dropped to a 2.75-hour class, although with pauses for questions it will probably take 3 hours.
I’m struggling to plan how this will all fit on the course calendar. Add in a vacation, head cold, and full class schedule – I have not had time to work on the course schedule. I’m glad I did not schedule too far ahead as these changes would be harder to accommodate. Hopefully the summer schedule will be posted over the next week.