The Heartbeat Blog

Considering the H's and T's during ACLS Certification Problem solving during a cardiac arrest can be frustrating, especially when the patient arrives as a John/Jane Doe.  The American Heart Association Advanced Cardiac Life Support Pulseless Arrest Algorithm, seeks to clarify the decision making process and the differential diagnosis during a pulseless arrest.  We drill this extensively during our ACLS courses.  Knowing the patient in advance and having time to anticipate likely scenarios can be a great help. Unfortunately, in many [...]

In my real world experience, code responses are nearly always improved when all members of the code team have taken Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training. It's called having a shared mental model, which is an essential element of any resuscitation team. Over the years much research has been done on this concept.  An example can be found in the Journal of Applied Psychology, entitled "The Influence of Shared Mental Models on Team Process and Performance". The paper discusses the [...]

Each year my program for new grads got more than 10 times the number of applicants as positions... Hopefully it will soon get better, but until then, Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification can help separate you from the competition. Here are three big ways: 1. ACLS CERTIFICATION GIVES YOU AN EDGE IN AN EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE CALIFORNIA JOB MARKET. Let's face it, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting a massive increase in the number of RNs needed to replace [...]