What Will I Learn in an Online ACLS Course?

The team approach to emergency medical care
Although a sole individual trained in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) can certainly initiate life-saving measures, it’s more effective and beneficial to the patient if ACLS is performed by a team. Because time is critical, some of the first tasks to be executed when you arrive at the scene of an emergency are best initiated when multiple rescuers can help.

Also discussed in online ACLS courses is the importance of a team leader. When one individual takes charge of the situation and quickly assigns tasks to the other rescuers, it can save time and lives. Whether you are a team leader or a team member, knowing your role as well as the roles of others, and understanding how each role works together is essential to saving lives.

How to treat ventricular fibrillation and respiratory arrest
One reason a patient may be unresponsive is because they are in ventricular fibrillation, where the cardiac muscle is experiencing uncoordinated contractions. By recognizing this life-threatening issue and performing CPR and executing defibrillation – which can be done with an AED (automatic external defibrillator) – you can save a life. Every minute that delays defibrillation results in a declining survival rate, by 7 to 10 percent per minute.

Restoring a patient’s breathing ability or removing any obstructions in an airway are critical to that patient’s survival. Through primary and secondary surveys, ACLS certified individuals are able to assess an unresponsive patient, evaluate possible causes of respiratory arrest and initiate immediate care of a patient. Airway or breathing problems are common in cardiac arrest patients, but as an online ACLS course explains, the sooner these patients regain control of their airways and breathing, the better their chances of survival are.

How an online ACLS course recommends responding to an acute stroke
If someone is having a stroke it means that his or her blood supply – and therefore critical oxygen supply – to the brain is cut off because an artery either ruptured or is blocked. Immediate action is pertinent for stroke patients as brain damage can occur rapidly if the oxygen supply is not reinstated.

Understanding the warning signs and symptoms, and being able to recognize them, can help you save someone’s life if they have a stroke. Here are the warning signs in order of occurrence (most frequent to least):

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg; especially on one side of the body (94%).
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech (88%).
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness and loss of balance or coordination (85%).
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes – either blurred vision or loss of vision (68%).
Sudden, severe headache with no obvious explanation (61%).

Using the knowledge gained in an online ACLS course, you’ll learn to conduct a rapid stroke assessment using the acronym “FAST.”

Facial Droop: One side of the face doesn’t move as well as the other.
Arm Drift: One arm doesn’t move or drifts downward when held extended.
Speech: The individual slurs words, uses the wrong word or can’t speak at all.
Time to Call 911: Presence of one of the above pieces of assessment is most often associated with a high risk of stroke (72%), if all three are present the risk increase to 85 percent and medical help should be called.

Health Ed Solutions offers online courses for first responders, medical professionals who require certification and individuals who simply would like to be prepared in a medical emergency. View more information about ACLS Training and ACLS Renewal.