HeartCode ACLS Anywhere

Where I work the hospital would need to pay for the course. The union contract for the nurses guarantees that required courses (such as ACLS for some of the nurses) will be paid for by the hospital. This is one of the reasons the program has not yet been available to the staff.

We will be offering the BLS online course in 2009. The BLS and the ACLS Heartcode are now both available for the initial provider as well as renewal. We will not be implementing the BLS renewal due to costs, but the Initial Provider will be available. I was thinking we might be able to do this with the Heartcode as well, but I am interested in hearing how others are dealing with the expense.

For our BLS program, we plan to schedule people for their skills check prior to issuing them an access code to the online course. For both ACLS and BLS a skills check must be done within 60 days after the online didactic portion is completed. We offer BLS every month, so I am hoping we will be able to catch up with those who don't show up for the first session they are scheduled for. We will see...

We plan to conduct the skills lab sessions after the renewal courses are completed on the same day. This will help with instructor time, equipment, etc. For ACLS, I agree this would be more difficult. I am curious if anyone has tried adding an instructor to the afternoon megacode session, and checking off those who did their course online during that time.

It sounds like this is difficult for participants that you have done this with. What about physicians, or others who are fairly comfortable with their skills (like an ICU charge nurse)? In our hospital the ICU charge nurses act as team leaders. Do they have a better success rate?

Thanks for your reply! I appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback.