January 18, 2022

CPR Requirements for Elder Care Workers
When you work in elder care, it is incredibly important to be certified in
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the proper use of automated
external defibrillation (AED) devices. This requirement is true for both the
medical staff and the support staff because you never know where an
elderly person might go into cardiac arrest. Of the 347,322 adults who
suffered from cardiac arrest in 2020, over 11.5% of them occurred in a
nursing home.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
In 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) determined
that CPR certification was an important certification for healthcare providers
working in elder care. Up until this time, CPR certification wasn’t required
because studies showed it was generally ineffective in a nursing home
setting. Since then, there has been an influx of younger residents, provoking
CMS to alter their requirements.
The New Requirements
According to CMS, all staff must acquire and maintain CPR certification from
a CPR provider whose course includes in-person, hands-on demonstrations,
and assessments. Elder care workers cannot receive CPR training from an
online course; it must be in-person. Additionally, CPR certification is valid for
two years. After that, you will need to take a renewal course to maintain
your certification.
CPR Risks for Seniors
While an elderly individual will likely die during a cardiac arrest without
receiving CPR, their chances of survival with CPR are still very low. There are
serious issues that survivors must contend with—like brain damage from
loss of oxygen or cracked ribs from the CPR itself—and the older their

bodies, the harder it will be to recover. This is why proper CPR certification
for working with the elderly requires in-person coursework: CPR is
essentially ineffective if the rate and depth of compression are off even a
little. Proper technique can only be taught by a qualified instructor. And
most instructors agree, it is better to survive with broken bones than die
without them. To learn more about our CPR services, call CPR of America
today at (781) 854-8015.