Pediatric Advanced Life Support – AHA PALS Class

Pediatric Advanced Life Support – PALS Course

Ill or injured children/infants often hide or compensate for symptoms that could quickly become life-threatening. To prevent decline of these pediatric patients, providers must be able to quickly diagnose the underlying cause, treat the symptoms, and closely monitor the patient.

In the AHA’s advanced pediatric course, students learn how to use a systematic approach to quickly assess, identify the underlying cause, and treat pediatric patients in emergency situations. Students interact with real pediatric patient cases, realistic simulations, and animations to assess and treat these pediatric patients. This includes applying basic life support, following PALS treatment algorithms, and practicing effective resuscitation skills and team dynamics. Through a combination of cognitive learning and psychomotor skills practice, the PALS Course improves students’ confidence and skill levels for delivering effective emergency pediatric care.

Who Should Take the Course?

Healthcare providers who either direct or participate in the management of respiratory and/or cardiovascular emergencies and cardiopulmonary arrest in pediatric patients. This includes personnel in emergency response, emergency medicine, intensive care and critical care units such as physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and paramedics.

This course will include:

• The systematic approach to assess and treat a seriously ill or injured infant/child
• Recognition and management of cardiac arrest
• Basic child and infant life support skills
• Effective resuscitation team dynamics
• Recognition and management of respiratory distress and failure, including airway management
• Recognition and management of shock, including vascular access
• Recognition and management of arrhythmias, including electrical therapy
• Post-cardiac arrest care

Course Delivery

PALS can be delivered in 2 formats to meet the needs of students and offer flexibility for healthcare organizations and Instructors. All formats include the same learning objectives and result in the same course completion card.

• Instructor-led Training:  Conducted in the classroom and supported with video and presentation technology, Instructors deliver courses designed to include both the cognitive portion of training and the psychomotor component of thorough skills practice and testing.
• Blended Learning:  This is a two part process. First the student will take the online test and print it out and then schedule a skills check off with us. www.elearning.heart.org
• Once on the website, in the search bar under “find a course” click on the drop down menu, then click on Pediatric Advance Life Support (PALS) and then click on HeartCode PALS. After completing the test, please print it off and bring it with you to class.

Mandatory Precourse Material:

Before you come to your scheduled PALS/BLS Combination course, the AHA has made it mandatory that you complete the PALS Self-Assessment and Pre-Test and score a 70% or higher to participate in the PALS course. We have included the link below to the AHA student website. Once you have completed the test, print out the page with your score and bring it with you to class. If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call. You can go to the Manuals/ebook bar at top to buy your AHA PALS book.

Pre-test Website Access Portal: www.elearning.heart.org

Once on the website click Courses, then click on PALS and then click on PALS Precourse Self-Assessment. Once you have completed the course, please print it out and bring it with you to class. You do not need a Precourse Self-Assessment for BLS.

Mandatory Precourse Material:

Before you come to your scheduled PALS course, the AHA has made it mandatory that you complete the PALS Self-Assessment and Pre-Test and score a 70% or higher to participate in the PALS course. We have included the link below to the AHA student website. Once you have completed the test, print out the page with your score and bring it with you to class. If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call. You can go to the Manuals/ebook bar at top to buy your AHA PALS book.

Pre-test Website Access Portal: www.elearning.heart.org

Once on the website, click on courses, then click on PALS, then click on Precourse Self-Assessment. Once you have completed the course, please print it out and bring it with you to class.