Module 2: American Heart Association

Part 1

In August, I need to recertify my BLS for Healthcare Providers certification. In other words, a more advanced CPR. I have always used The American Heart Association (AHA) for this. My problem of practice (POP) is to look at innovative ways to bridge the socioeconomic gap for students in the classroom in order for them to pursue higher education.  Given, my POP needs quite a bit of refinement. My students of focus are public health or health sciences majors where advanced degrees, and things like CPR certifications are standard for every level. The main reason why I selected this site was because it offers CRP and other continuing education classes, both in‑person, online, and hybrid. I have experience taking all three of these modalities.  

 
Part 2
 

When first going to AHA’s educational website, you have access to a large listing of classes available. The two main types of training available is for CPR, first aid, and emergency cardiovascular care. A useful resource available in addition to the training courses is that there are guidelines put out my AHA, which are considered the gold standard, for CPR. This is immensely beneficial to have this guide available without having to submit payment to refresh your certification. I do not have to be an active student to access this. As being a former student, I do have my course I took available to me for a year after completion. Considering that guidelines have changed quite a bit over the years, this is great to be able to access my course, test materials, and other supplemental materials. There are also textbooks and other manuals available to the public. This site acts as a liaison to connect students and potential students to training centers within their local area. It gives people the ability to have the elearning section, while experiencing the hands-on skills development. (AHA 2016)

American Heart Association (AHA). 2016. Retrieved on March 25, 2016 from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/CPR_UCM_001118_SubHomePage.jsp.

Part 3

Weick, K. E. (1976). Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative science quarterly, 1-19.

·         Loose systems

   o   Connections are strong, moving parts are independent

   o   Less interconnectivity, less communication

   o   Maintain separate identities

·         Tight systems

   o   Connections are strong, parts move together

   o   Impacts are felt throughout the organization

   o   More interconnectivity, more communication

   o   Strong system identity 

·         Dysfunctions can be felt in either system

Hargreaves, A., et al. (Eds) (2009). Innovation and diffusion as a theory of change. In Second International Handbook of Educational Change (Introduction). Springer: Netherlands.

·         Best schools are those who work with their communities

·         Collaborations, public input/response

·         Consider different levels for system change (community/local, ground)

Bentley, T. (Ed) (2009). Innovation and diffusion as a theory of change. In Second International Handbook of Educational Change (pp 29-46). Springer: Netherlands.

·         Systems with high levels of networking/communication

·         Include diverse experiences and input for innovation

Part 4

AHA gives the public and the student the ability to easily find courses that suit their needs. Having both in-person, online, and hybrid options give flexibility. The online (elearning) and hybrids are actually the more inexpensive option, which as a student, allows for less stress for obtaining required professional development trainings.

Supplemental Resources/Education Materials

I selected to review the 2015 Guidelines Highlights. I was immediately impressed that it was available in many different languages, making it accessible to a larger audience. These guidelines contained figures for the new classifications, along with the level of evidence. I appreciated that even though this is targeting a large population, it used meta-analysis and other terms appropriate for health sciences. This read like a summary and was very easy to point out the important changes. There is also a corresponding online course that “helps healthcare providers and systems to bridge the gap” between the new guidelines and renewal courses institutions are already offering.

 

References

AHA. 2015. Highlights of the 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC. Retrieved on March 25, 2016 on http://eccguidelines.heart.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2015-AHA-Guidelines-Highlights-English.pdf.

 
Bentley, T. (Ed) (2009). Innovation and diffusion as a theory of change. In Second International Handbook of Educational Change (pp 29-46). Springer: Netherlands.

Hargreaves, A., et al. (Eds) (2009). Innovation and diffusion as a theory of change. In Second International Handbook of Educational Change (Introduction). Springer: Netherlands.

Weick, K. E. (1976). Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative science quarterly, 1-19.