Drisanna is an emergency-certified Registered Nurse that worked in one of B.C.’s busiest emergency departments. She was also a clinical instructor for BCIT’s Emergency Nursing Specialty program between 2013-2017, served as the CPR instructor for all health care staff at BC Children’s and Women’s hospital, and is currently an educator for the BScN program at Langara College. Drisanna is a certified qualitative n95 fit tester for health care workers and is certified to teach Heart and Stroke Foundation’s CPR courses.

Brandon is a Registered Nurse working on a Medical/ Surgical floor and a previous First Responder. He worked for 2 years teaching students certified under the Canadian Red Cross basic first aid and CPR content and is now actively certified to teach the Heart and Stroke Foundations CPR courses.

About the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada courses, completion card, and expiration dates

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada courses offers the latest resuscitation science for improved patient outcomes and incorporates the new 2020 resuscitation guidelines.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s BLS and Heartsaver courses include realistic scenarios, simulations and state-of-the-art animations, and incorporates Heart and Stroke Foundation’s proven Practice-While-Watching video format to bring the science of the 2015 Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC to the front line practitioner.

HSFC Course Completion Card & Expiration Date:

Students who successfully complete the course will receive an email that provides access to their BLS Provider eCard. This electronic proof of course completion can be accessed directly online, downloaded or printed for convenience. A formal printed course completion card from Heart and Stroke Foundation is available for an additional fee.

All Heart and Stroke Foundation Basic Life Support completion cards are valid for 1 year from the date of successful course completion.

The current recommended timeline for renewal of the BLS Provider Course completion card is every year. Although there is insufficient evidence to determine optimal renewal timing, research on skills retention and training have identified important outcomes:

  • There is growing evidence that BLS knowledge and skills decay rapidly after initial training.
  • Studies have demonstrated the deterioration of BLS skills within a few months after initial training.
  • Studies examining the effect of brief, more frequent training sessions demonstrated improvement in chest compression performance and shorter time to defibrillation.
  • Studies have found that students reported improved confidence and willingness to perform CPR after additional or high-frequency training.

Given how fast BLS skills decay after training, and with the observed improvement in skill and confidence among students who train more frequently, students should be encouraged to periodically review their Provider Manual and practice CPR and AED skills whenever possible.