So if you’ve completed a First Aid course once many years ago and expect the information you learnt (if you can remember all of it!) to be current, you might be disappointed. Just like anything health-related, new research and techniques are often emerging, at St John we’re at the forefront of this. The Council regularly recommends the practices taught at First Aid courses change, in everything from CPR compressions to treating a snake bite, to ensure the best chances of survival. The Australian Resuscitation Council, a panel of experts for the practice and teaching of resuscitation and First Aid, provides us with guidelines based on scientific evidence which we follow closely when designing our training. Firstly, your First Aid certificate doesn’t quite ‘expire’, but it does need to be refreshed at regular intervals to ensure the information is current and reflects best practice. We often get asked about the date of First Aid certificate expiry, and the response we give varies.