By Andrew Hill, Training and Development Portfolio Lead (andrew.hill@skipatrol.ca)
I hope you all had a good summer and are looking forward to the new season.
The 2024 advanced first aid (AFA) requalification course follows a similar format to previous years and includes:
- A 2024 requalification overview, including AFA manual changes.
- Annual compliance training.
- Mutual respect policy.
- Occupational health and safety.
- Workplace hazardous material information system (WHMIS).
- National initiatives.
- Patient assessment – secondary assessment modules.
- Environmental injuries.
- CPR/AED basic life support (online modules, in-class CPR/AED skills demonstration, and CPR/AED written exam).
- AFA skills refresher videos (optional).
- AFA skills record completion.
- AFA written exam.
- AFA diagnostics exam.
Online access changes
To help you prepare for the season, please note that there has been a change to where you can access the documents required to help you through the AFA requalification process. Previously, these were available under the My CSP Student Training Resources link after logging on to the national member’s website (https://www.skipatrol.ca/members/student-resources/ ). To provide a single repository for the latest versions of these documents they have now been moved into the eLearning system, accessed by clicking on the eLearning link (https://courses.edu.skipatrol.ca/login/index.php) on the members’ website. You will need to know your eLearning login credentials. With a single sign-on, these should be the same as used to logon to the members’ website or the Yeti database. Please contact your zone training manager or division eLearning coordinator if you have forgotten these or have difficulty logging in.
Once logged in, you should find the 2024 Requalification Course. The student resources library can be found in the first module of that course. In the new eLearning system, which is currently under development, the student resource library will be a standalone course versus being embedded in other courses.
Under the Advanced First Aid – Secourisme avancé tab, the AFA manual is now at the 2022 Revision 2 standard. There is one new treatment topic, trench foot, in Chapter 17 Environmental injuries. This is to comply with an audit of our AFA course that was performed against the CSA Z1210-17 (now Z121-24) Canadian national standard. There are other editorial type changes that can be found in the 2022 R2 release notes.
Manual version for testing: 2022 Revision 1 manual
Under the Training documents – Documents de formation tab, you will find the AFA Skills record 2024 and the Written Exam Review. We do not test on new or changed material in the AFA manual in the year that it is released. Therefore, the Written Exam Review 2024, is based on material that is found in the 2022 Revision 1 manual. Please make use of the Written Exam Review when preparing for your requalification. There are 80 topics listed and 80 questions on the exam. You are allowed two attempts at the written exam, which has a pass mark of 80 per cent.
Correcting to 100 per cent
If you are doing a paper exam and you achieve a passing grade you will need to correct your answers to 100 per cent, using your manual to find the correct answers.
If you are doing the online exam and you achieve a passing grade, you will be congratulated on passing the AFA written exam and be asked to confirm completion. However, you will not be able to review your incorrect answers and correct to 100 per cent online. This is due to a limitation in Moodle functionality. Your zone teacher has access to the marks on Moodle and can see which questions you got wrong. Your zone may ask you to review those errors and provide the correct answer. Hopefully, this limitation with the current online exam will be corrected in the new eLearning system, which will host the AFA and CPR/AED written exams in the future.
In either case, if you get less than 80 per cent on your first attempt you will need to re-test at a later date, waiting at least 24 hours. In this case you will not be informed which questions you got wrong.
Checklists and reference material
The AFA Skills Record 2024 is the checklist of the bandages, splints, and backboard skills that you will need to complete as part of your 2024 AFA requalification. The AFA training record instructions 2024 provide guidance on completing the record.
The Patient Assessment is the checklist of all the patient assessment steps that must be followed when assessing a patient.
The AFA Diagnostic Exam General Information document provides you with guidance on what the evaluators are looking for when you take your AFA diagnostic evaluation.
Under the Previous Exams – Examens précédents tab you will find the 2023 AFA written, CPR/AED written, and diagnostic exams that you can use for practice.
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