Welcome to Our ACLS Site!
This site is a work-in-progress about Advanced Cardiac Life Support, or ACLS. ACLS is a certification that certain medical professionals need to maintain in order to continue performing their jobs. Historically, ACLS certification was done in formal classrooms and combined a written test with a live practice session performed on mannequins. The written test was intended to demonstrate students' knowledge of the theory behind the techniques, while the live mannequin sessions was intended to demonstrate students' knowledge of the actual techniques.
Over the past few years, a number of online certification programs have been set up and have begun to grow in popularity. These have been accompanied by a number of resource sites about ACLS certification and recertification on line. The web-based programs are essentially replacements for the written part of traditional ACLS certification courses. Some of these programs are accredited or endorsed by the American Heart Association, while others are accredited or endorsed by one or more other medical associations. Programs endorsed by the AHA still require a live mannequin skills test in addition to the online written test. Other programs generally require the skills test for initial certification, but not for recertification.
The reason that the online courses are growing in popularity is that they are generally more convenient than traditional offline courses. Traditional offline courses are taught in a classroom and generally include between 10 and 30 students at a time. The courses are generally between 15 and 20 hours in classroom time, depending on the specific program. This is obviously not tremendously convenient, especially considering that the medical profession in general is a demanding profession and the students themselves are almost always very busy professionals with intense schedules.
Compared to that, the online courses are much more convenient. Students sign up for an online course, study the material if need be, take the course, pass it and earn their card. Study materials can generally be purchased from the companies offering the courses, or students can purchase study materials at their place of employment, borrow them from a library or friend, etc. In general, all legitimate courses are based off the latest AHA guidelines, so the study materials will be the same from course to course. Note that students seeking their initial certification will generally be required to complete a live skills test involving mannequins, in addition to successfully passing the written exam either online or in a classroom.
10 Second Summary
This site is all about ACLS online certification and how it works. We've put together some of the basic stuff to begin with for your reading and educational enjoyment, and we will be diligently adding to this information like industrious ants.