Have you ever been confused as to the number of first aid and CPR courses available to people in Canada? Only recently has the federal government stepped in with the provinces to address this issue. Each province was issuing different certificates for different courses that didn’t really transfer over and then frustrated students had to take transitional courses that provided little to no new content. As a seasoned instructor for over 20 years and first aid program creator we will discuss on this page the different first aid courses that were available and how it has changed it the recent years.
Total List of All the Courses Available to Canadians in the past 20 Years
The following is a total list of courses available to Canadian’s throughout Canada over the past 20 years:
- Emergency Medical Responder
- First Responder
- Marine First Aid
- Occupational First Aid Level 3
- OFA Level 3
- Occupational First Aid Level 2
- OFA Level 2
- Basic Life Support
- Health Care Provider CPR
- Emergency First Aid
- Intermediate First Aid
- Basic First Aid
- Standard First Aid
- Advanced First Aid
- Wilderness First Aid
- Ski Patrol First Aid
- Emergency Childcare First Aid
- Standard Childcare First Aid
I can’t imagine what it’s like being a student and figuring what course in what province means what in another province. I understand the confusion that students have when selecting the correct first aid course.
How the Government Finally Made Something More Simple
Finally, after so much confusion and sheer number of courses and transitional courses the federal government released CSA standards that broke down all the courses into three government approved courses:
- Intermediate – which replaced standard
- Basic – which replaced OFA level 1, Occupational First Aid level 1, Emergency first aid and Level 1 First Aid.
- Advanced – which replaced OFA level 3, Occupational First Aid level 3, First Responder, Emergency Medical Responders, and potentially Wilderness First Aid
In the world of CPR the following courses have been broken down into one:
- Basic Life Support – replaced CPR for health care providers and CPR HCP
Courses that will no longer exist:
- Occupational First Aid Level 2
- OFA Level 2
Courses that will likely not change:
- Standard childcare first aid
- Emergency childcare first aid
Hopefully this clears up all the confusion you may have had with the Government and Non Government approved first aid and CPR courses available in Alberta and Lethbridge.