ACLS Certification

hey everyone. i was wondering if anyone had any advice on what would be the quickest and simplest way to get my acls certification. there are a lot of different websites offering acls certification, but i'm not sure if any are good or even legit.

also, does anybody know if it matters to employers whether the acls certification comes from the american heart association? some of the online sites for acls say, that although thier certifcation is legit, they are not endorsed by the american heart association. so i was just wondering if that makes any difference to a perspective employer where the nurse actually gets the certification from. thanks!!

i would first contact local hospitals and/or ems/fire agencies. one of these might have a pending class. another option would be one of the blended programs. prior to enrolling, you could contact one of the approved evaluation centers in your area to determine availability of an evaluation time.

the american heart association does not endorse acls courses. the aha did publish the 2005 american heart association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care, from which they then authored their life support courses.

from these guidelines, other agencies have authored similar life support courses. these courses are offered in one of three formats: the traditional class room setting; a blended course consisting of an online didactic portion with practical skills practice and testing; and an online version without included skills testing or evaluation, although some of these require you obtain a separate skills evaluation prior to issuing your course completion card. [color=#333333]i am not personally familiar with any of these programs other then those offered by the aha.

the american heart association currently offers both acls and bls in the blended course format. after completing the online portion you are required to schedule a session with an aha instructor to complete the skills portion. if you are unable to locate an instructor to complete your skills evaluation, you can use the ecc class connector to locate one. this site can also be used to locate scheduled classes. there is no distinction between the traditional classroom setting and the blended course, and upon completion of either course you will be issued the same course completion card.

the american safety & health institute (ashi) also offers several life support courses including cpr pro, acls, and pals. while it is my understanding that these courses are currently available only in the traditional setting, their website states they are working on developing blended courses and that all of their blended courses will contain a skills evaluation component.

eacls course, also available in either the traditional or blended format, was developed jointly by jones bartlett and the american college of emergency physicians. if you opt for the blended course, you must schedule yourself for a skills evaluation at one of their approved education centers.

some online programs require a skills evaluation, although it is not included within their course. for example, american medical resource institute (amri) requires a skills verification be completed by your hospital or local educator/clinical supervisor, before the provider card will be issued while health education solutions (hes) [color=#333333]requires each applicant to take a skills test for the initial certification course.

[color=#333333]you will occasionally have someone tell you that the joint commission only recognizes courses offered by a certain organization. this is not so. joint commission standard pc.02.01.11 (july 1, 2009) resuscitation services are available throughout the hospital states the following: "an evidenced-based training program(s) is used to train staff to recognize the need for and use of resuscitation equipment and techniques" without specifically endorsing one program over the other. it is left up to each organization to determine which program they determine which specific program best meets those needs.

[color=#333333]there's really no way of knowing whether it will matter to a prospective employee which course you attended. some facilities will only recognize the specific program that they use while other facilities have reviewed the programs and determined that multiple courses are similar in content and therefore acceptable.

i hope this information was helpful.