BLS renewal—ouch

[T-Bird78]

I had to renew my BLS the other day. Our employer has the online portion for the test then we go to the lab for the manikin/hands-on portion where the computer guides you as you’re doing the actions. Our manikin is terrible, the mouth is all cracked and the mask doesn’t seal well, the chest sounds like a rusty bed when compressing, it’s just terrible. Anyway, I was wondering why I felt like I’d done an ab workout yesterday when I remembered—I did! I’d had to do several rounds to pass because the manikin is so touchy (I even had someone else complete a set of compressions to make sure it wasn’t just me; it wasn’t). I figured I’d done 9-10 cycles of CPR. Anybody else feel sore the day or so after CPR? Or am I just that out of shape LOL?

[prmenrs, RN]

I am/was in horrible shape. No argument. But, I never remember being sore doing CPR in a code, or a regular CPR recert. It was just that one instructor certification that nearly did me in. I must have done compressions for 2 hours or more.

When I was a supervisor, I got paged for all codes. I would try to get the biggest med student in attendance to do compressions.