Course Purpose
The American Red Cross Advanced Life Support (ALS) course provides participants with the knowledge and skills they need to assess, recognize and care for patients who are experiencing a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency. When a patient experiences a lifethreatening emergency, healthcare providers need to act swiftly and promptly. The course emphasizes providing high-quality patient care by integrating psychomotor skills, rhythm interpretation, electrical interventions and pharmacologic knowledge with critical thinking and problem solving to achieve the best possible patient outcomes.
Course Prerequisites
Participants in the American Red Cross Advanced Life Support (ALS) course must be proficient in adult basic life support (BLS) skills.
Learning Objectives
- Demonstrate high-quality basic life support (BLS) skills, including high-quality chest compressions, effective ventilations and use of an AED.
- Apply concepts of effective teamwork when caring for a patient experiencing a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency.
- Integrate advanced communication, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills when responding as part of a team to a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency.
- Apply a systematic, continuous approach to assess, recognize and care for an adult experiencing a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency.
- Effectively assess, recognize and care for an adult experiencing respiratory or cardiac arrest.
- Quickly recognize the nature of a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency.
- Provide effective and appropriate advanced life support care to address a cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or respiratory emergency.
- Provide effective and appropriate care after a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) during a resuscitation effort.
Course Length
ALS is currently available in both blended learning and instructor-led delivery formats.
ALS Blended Learning Course Length:
- The online session of the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Blended Learning course is designed to be adaptive. Depending on the participant’s experience and familiarity with course content, the online session can be completed in 3 hours, 30 minutes to 6 hours, 30 minutes. Typical completion time for the online session is approximately 5 hours.
- The blended learning in-person skills session is designed to be taught in approximately 3 hours (required lessons only).
ALS Instructor-Led Course Length:
- The ALS Instructor-Led course is designed to be taught in approximately 10 hours and 15 minutes.
Instructor
Instructors must hold an Advanced Life Support instructor certificate in order to teach ALS. Specific information on eligibility and instructions on how to receive an ALS Instructor certification can be found on Instructor’s Corner.
Certification
Participants who successfully complete the ALS course will be issued an Advanced Life Support certification that is valid for two years.
Participant Materials
Blended Learning course participants are required to access the online session of the Advanced Life Support Blended Learning course.
The Advanced Life Support Participant’s Manual is required for participants in the Advanced Life Support Instructor-Led Training course. The Advanced Life Support Participant’s Manual is not required for participants taking the Advanced Life Support Blended Learning course. The Advanced
Life Support Participant’s Manual may be downloaded from the Red Cross Learning Center (http://www.redcrosslearningcenter.org) or purchased from the Red Cross Store (www.redcross.org/store).
