This item is no longer valid for AHA training. Please see the AHA 2020 BLS Provider Student Manual for the current guidelines version.

Basic Life Support (BLS) is the basis for saving lives when cardiac arrest occurs. The AHA's BLS Course has been designed to reflect the new science specified in the 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (2015 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC). This video-based, instructor-led course teaches the single-rescuer and the team basic life support skills for use in both facility and prehospital settings.

After successfully completing the BLS Course, students should be able to:

- Describe the importance of high-quality CPR and its impact on survival

- Describe all of the steps of the Chain of Survival and apply the BLS concepts of the Chain of Survival

- Recognize the signs of someone needing CPR

- Perform high-quality CPR for adults, children, and infants

- Describe the importance of early use of an AED and demonstrate its use

- Provide effective ventilations by using a barrier device

- Describe the importance of teams in multi-rescuer resuscitation and perform as an effective team member during multi-rescuer CPR

- Describe the technique for relief of foreign-body airway obstruction (choking) for adults and infants