Recognition by healthcare professionals

First Aid & CPR Ireland

In health care, maintaining high standards of care is essential to protect the public. For registered nurses, keeping resuscitation and first-aid skills current is part of maintaining professional competence; for healthcare assistants, BLS/CPR is a commonly required employer qualification. Here is what the rules expect for your role — and how recognized, up-to-date, documented training meets it.

Health professionals: continuing education and up-to-date skills

In Ireland, nurses are registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI / Bord Altranais agus Cnáimhseachais na hÉireann) and must maintain their professional competence throughout their career, including the ability to respond in an emergency.

The NMBI Code and its Professional Competence Scheme (using the Plan-Do-Study-Act tool) require nurses to demonstrate continuing professional development relevant to their scope of practice; mandatory training such as resuscitation counts as CPD where relevant.

Maintaining professional competence is a Code obligation: the NMBI sets no fixed number of hours and does not tie CPD to a retention fee, but demonstrating CPD relevant to your practice is required. Resuscitation training counts as CPD when relevant to your scope of practice.

The requirement is met by any recognized continuing-education activity on an eligible topic. CPR/AED, ACLS (advanced cardiovascular life support) and PALS are among the eligible activities; other topics also qualify (for example safe prescribing, suicide prevention or violence prevention). A single course therefore both meets the obligation and counts toward your hours — provided you keep the proof.

Eligible courses offered in your region

How training becomes recognized

Not all activities are equal. For continuing education to be recognized by a professional order, it must meet specific criteria:

  • the instructor’s competence;
  • the relevance and quality of the content;
  • the training framework;
  • the quality of the material provided;
  • mechanisms to monitor and assess participation.

In Ireland, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) sets the professional-competence requirements and the criteria for what counts as CPD. Our training is designed to meet these criteria.

Rigorous online learning

Our training draws on the latest medical research and combines practical modules with a theoretical assessment. The resulting certification is credible and verifiable — presentable to your professional order and to your employer — and prepares you to excel in your practice.

Support and care staff: a certificate required to work

A CPR and first-aid course does not replace occupational training — it is added to it. To work with vulnerable people, a valid first-aid certificate is often required in addition to your professional training.

For healthcare assistants, the QQI Level 5 (Healthcare Support) is the core qualification, and BLS/CPR certification (adult, paediatric, infant, AED, airway obstruction) is a commonly required qualification of Irish nursing-home and agency employers. Alongside the occupational qualification, a recognized, up-to-date BLS/CPR certificate meets that requirement and must be renewed.

See the recognized training for this role

Attestation, certificate and invoice: proof your training is recognized

On successful completion, you receive:

  • an official attestation;
  • a certificate of completion;
  • a detailed invoice;
  • online access to your documents for as long as your certification remains valid.

These documents are the proof to present to your professional order to credit your hours, or to your employer to demonstrate your compliance.

For organizations: keep your team compliant

When the certificate is an employer requirement, the real challenge is tracking. Our organization system manages a team’s training: a certification dashboard, deadline tracking, automatic renewal reminders and proof archiving. An organization keeps its whole staff current without watching every date by hand.

Training aligned with the latest emergency-care standards

Our CPR, AED and first-aid training is developed in line with the most recent international guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care and first aid.

We rigorously follow the recommendations of ILCOR (International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation), the international body responsible for the scientific evaluation and development of global resuscitation standards. These recommendations serve as a reference for health organizations, institutions and professional orders worldwide — and are updated as scientific and clinical evidence evolves.

Keep your skills current with confidence

Every intervention can make a difference. Keeping CPR and emergency-care skills current is both a professional requirement and a responsibility toward patients, colleagues and the public.

See all health-care courses

References

Content is being updated.