Using distance training to deliver first aid training

The St John Ambulance organization in Alberta issues over 100,000 first aid certificates each year (an 80% market share). The success of the organizat ion is attributed to a province-wide infrastructure of volunteer public fir st aid providers and over 2000 volunteer instructors in industry and other spheres. In 1998 St John Ambulance piloted the use of CD-ROMs for teaching, producing two courses. One was a first aid course and the other was a baby sitter course. The experience of the pilot programmes will allow the digita l material to be transferred to our Website. Once this is done people aroun d the world will be able to receive the self-paced learning components. Han ds-on evaluation of skills, however, is mandatory to certification. Mass tr aining where certification is required therefore requires a mixture of dist ance learning and hands-on testing, reinforcing the need for trained evalua tors to be available to the population.