Project Heartbeat

Education

A broad resource hub covering how healthcare professionals learn, train, and stay current. Topics span AHA guideline updates, training format comparisons, hands-on certification requirements, Magnet hospital status, and the case for continuing education throughout your career. If you’re trying to understand your options or make smarter decisions about your training, start here.

1 02, 2019

Documentation During a Life-Threatening In-Hospital Event

February 1st, 2019|ACLS, Education|

When you’re busy trying to save your patient’s life, probably the last thing on your mind is paperwork. After all, if you’re like most health care practitioners, paperwork is always to be dreaded and is only done because it’s required to be completed by law. While documentation during a code certainly is required by law, you should understand that there are actually some other good reasons to get it done. In fact, it may even help you provide better [...]

25 01, 2019

CPR or Defibrillation First? A Look at the Best Practice for Treating Ventricular Fibrillation

January 25th, 2019|CPR Training Articles, Education|

One of the stickiest issues as you deal with V-fib is knowing when you should defibrillate the patient and when you should continue with CPR. CPR is obviously necessary for perfusing the brain and the heart muscle, but defibrillation is vital for getting the heart back into a rhythm through which it can perfuse the body itself. As a new provider or as an experienced provider uncertain about the latest changes made in 2015 by the ACLS, you may find [...]

9 01, 2019

What’s the Difference Between a Paramedic and an EMT?

January 9th, 2019|Career Programs, Education, EMT Training|

When you hear the words EMT and paramedic, you might immediately think of those people who hop out of the backs of ambulances to help individuals in emergency situations. However, an EMT is actually different from a paramedic. While both may occasionally do some of the same tasks, one has a bit more education, training, experience and skills than the other. Differences in Training The most obvious difference between EMTs and paramedics is in their education. EMTs follow a fairly [...]

2 01, 2019

5 Tips for Moving from General Floor to Critical Care Nursing

January 2nd, 2019|Advanced Nursing, Education|

If you are like many nurses, you may be looking for a way to advance your career or get into a new field in nursing to breathe new life into your career. If you work in a large enough hospital, one option that may be easily open to you is a transition into critical care nursing. It may initially seem frightening to consider going into this type of nursing. After all, the ICU nurse routinely saves lives, and you may [...]

28 12, 2018

5 Tips for Passing Your ACLS Examination the First Time

December 28th, 2018|ACLS, Advanced Nursing, Career Programs|

It can be scary to take an Advanced Cardiac Life Support class for the first time. You may feel totally out of your element and may feel as if you know less than any of the others around you. While these feelings of low confidence are normal, you can do some things yourself to improve your experience. Specifically, you can follow these five tips to help you ace your certification exam the first time you take it. Learn to [...]

26 12, 2018

The Most Commonly Used Drugs in Advanced Cardiac Life Support

December 26th, 2018|ACLS, Advanced Nursing, Education|

When you are helping patients in a health care facility, medications become an integral part of many of your treatments. This is especially true in the case of life-threatening conditions when code blues are called. As you study your algorithms in preparation for your ACLS certification or renewal, you’ll quickly find that the following medications are frequently seen throughout many treatment pathways. Atropine Atropine is the drug of choice for improving very slow heart rates. It is used as part [...]

19 12, 2018

Best Care Practices for Patients with Congestive Heart Failure

December 19th, 2018|ACLS, Advanced Nursing, Education|

High blood pressure, coronary artery disease and a variety of other heart and blood vessel conditions may gradually cause this condition. However, the most important point for you to consider as you care for patients with this diagnosis is how you can most effectively help them regain their health and avoid sudden death, which become increasingly common with severe CHF.

14 12, 2018

EKG Rhythms: Not for Doctors’ Eyes Only

December 14th, 2018|ACLS, Advanced Nursing, Classes, Education|

One of the most elusive skills for clinicians is learning to read EKGs. Even those who learn to recognize textbook examples at the drop of a hat may suddenly find themselves stumped in a real-life situation. You see, as with many things in the medical world, not all EKG patterns follow textbook examples. However, this brings us to question who should be able to decode EKGs? Should doctors alone be responsible for this important skill, or should you and your [...]

12 12, 2018

Confident Enough to Run a Code

December 12th, 2018|ACLS, Advanced Nursing, BLS, Education, EMT Training|

Confidence is defined as your ability to rely completely on someone or something. As a health care worker, you need to have confidence in your coworkers, but you also need to have a strong reliance on your own ability. This is called self-confidence. One of the areas in which it is easiest to lack self-confidence is in running or participating in a code. You may feel as if you wouldn’t have a clue what to do if your patient [...]

7 12, 2018

Stress Management

December 7th, 2018|Education, Nurses Corner|

Do you feel stressed at your job? Well, you aren’t alone in feeling this way. According to the American Attitudes in the Workplace survey, 80% of Americans feel stress in their job and more than half feel that they need help in learning to manage their stress. What is stress? Stress is defined as an experience a person is exposed to through a stimulus or stressor; disruptive forces, a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse [...]

Go to Top