Pickens Technical College Medical Assistant Pathway: The Key to the Heartcode BLS Certification

In the Pickens Technical College’s Medical Assistant program, you’re fast becoming a valuable asset to any healthcare facility in the country. In Colorado alone, the healthcare industry is in desperate need of medical assistants who can operate in both front- and back-office settings, helping patients and healthcare professionals. In essence, as you well know by now, medical assistants are the glue that holds many hospitals, clinics, and treatment centers together. Without these valuable workers, the healthcare industry as a whole would collapse.

Part of the appeal of PTC’s Medical Assistant program is that it’s geared toward helping you earn two certifications: The Mental Health First Aid Certificate and the HeartCode BLS Certificate. You’ll find many job postings that require either one or the other (or both), and either certification will help you find the perfect position in the perfect healthcare facility for you, not to mention teach you useful skills you’ll need in your new medical profession.

The Importance of HeartCode BLS

HeartCode BLS certification is intended to ensure that all medical professionals have at least the minimum skills needed to assist in an emergency medical situation. BLS (Basic Life Support) is a necessary set of skills for anyone working with patients in a medical setting. BLS certification also separates you from other assistants working in the medical field.

HeartCode BLS is different from other certifications in the medical field and from other BLS certifications and tests because it uses several eLearning assets like dramatizations on video, stimulations of problems, animations, and interactive lessons to teach competency in BLS skills. The second part of the certification is a hands-on session with an American Heart Association instructor, which focuses on skills practice, team scenarios, debriefing, discussions of local protocols, and more. Essentially, it’s a Pickens Medical Assistant class that gives you a certification and a leg up on others entering the workforce.

Preparing for the Test

The first step of preparation is already being completed. By learning from Annette Rowe in the Medical Assistant course, you’re already preparing for the test every day by showing up to class. But when it comes time to earn your certification, be prepared for a blended learning experience, utilizing technology and online resources to enhance the certification experience. You’re probably already accustomed to blending myriad online and technological resources with hands-on and classroom training, just don’t go into the HeartCode BLS experience thinking you’ll be working with only pencils and Scantrons.

The key to earning your HeartCode BLS certificate will be to remember your hands-on training from class and to not be afraid of the high-performance team’s section, which will be reminiscent of your time at PTC, except you’ll be working with others you may not be familiar with and performing tasks (i.e. operating the compressor, ventilator, or defibrillator) you may have less practice in.

After you complete the Medical Assistant course at PTC, you’ll be more than ready to take on the BLS certification and find a rewarding job in almost any medical center in the country.