Does CPR Certification Count as Continuing Education?

Does CPR certification count towards your required continuing education hours? If you take them through American Heart Association, there is a chance that they do! Click here for more information and to see exactly which classes count! The catch on the continuing education credits is it depends on your accrediting body. For example, the American Nurses Credentialing Center approves many of the American Heart Association credits for nurses, but not every health profession is the exact same in terms of accepting CE credits.

The main accrediting bodies that accept AHA continuing education credits are the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Basically, if you are a nurse, pharmacist, medical doctor, PA/NP, or EMT, there’s a good chance you can get credit for some of these classes. Unfortunately, any organizations outside of these listed may not accept your CPR certification as appropriate continuing education.

The contact hours and credit amounts you can earn vary depending on the organization, so determine how many credits/hours that are required of you prior to coming to class to avoid any disappointment! By taking the online learning portion of the American Heart Association course, you can easily claim your continuing education credits at the end of the course. Heartsaver online courses and BLS Heartcode are both eligible for these CE credits. Learning CPR can be very beneficial and is good knowledge to have regardless, but it may not count towards your professional development. If you would like to find out how to add CPR certification to your resume, check out this post here. If you’d like to become CPR certified for the first time, or your certification is about to expire, check out course options here! CPR certification gives you the power to save lives!