State board requirements for CPR certification for licensure in independent health professions.

CPR certification requirements for licensure were obtained from 50 states and the District of Columbia for the fields of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, chiropractic, dentistry, and optometry. It was found that none of the states required CPR certification for initial medical, osteopathic or chiropractic licensure or license renewal, while 4 percent required certification for initial podiatric licensure and license renewal. For initial licensure in dentistry, 25 percent of the boards required CPR certification while 29 percent required CPR certification to renew dental licensure. For initial optometric licensure with diagnostic pharmaceutical agents, 44 percent of the states required CPR certification.