Description:
The American Heart Association’s ACLS course builds on the foundation of lifesaving BLS skills, emphasizing the importance of preventing cardiac arrest, early and continuous high-quality CPR, and high-performing teams. The course reflects science and education from the 2025 American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC).
The HeartCode format is a blended learning delivery method, which consists of students completing an online course prior to an in-person skills test. You must complete the HeartCode ACLS online portion (purchased separately for $173) prior to your testing session, as the certificate of completion is due at check-in. If you have not yet completed the course online, you can find the link to purchase here: https://shopcpr.heart.org/heartcode-acls
Intended Audience
For healthcare professionals who either direct or participate in the management of cardiopulmonary arrest or other cardiovascular emergencies and for personnel in emergency response.
What does this course teach?
After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:
- Define systems of care
- Apply the BLS, Primary, and Secondary Assessments sequence for a systematic evaluation of adult patients
- Discuss how the use of a rapid response team (RRT) or medical emergency team (MET) may improve patient outcomes
- Discuss early recognition and management of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), including appropriate disposition
- Discuss early recognition and management of stroke, including appropriate disposition
- Recognize bradycardias and tachycardias that may result in cardiac arrest or complicate resuscitation outcome
- Perform early management of bradycardias and tachycardias that may result in cardiac arrest or complicate resuscitation outcome
- Model effective communication as a member or leader of a high-performance team
- Recognize the impact of team dynamics on overall team performance
- Recognize respiratory arrest
- Perform early management of respiratory arrest
- Recognize cardiac arrest
- Perform prompt, high-quality BLS including prioritizing early chest compressions and integrating early automated external defibrillator (AED) use
- Perform early management of cardiac arrest until termination of resuscitation or transfer of care, including immediate post–cardiac arrest care
- Evaluate resuscitative efforts during a cardiac arrest through continuous assessment of CPR quality, monitoring the patient’s physiologic response, and delivering real-time feedback to the team
Is there a required textbook for this course?
Yes, the AHA requires that all students have a student manual for the course, however, the ACLS Provider Manual eBook is included in the purchase of the HeartCode ACLS Online Course.