Letters to the Editor

HeartCode ACLS Anywhere CD
I have been using the HeartCode ACLS Anywhere CD, The official American Heart Association self-directed ACLS program, which allows healthcare providers to complete part of the requirements for ACLS certification from a personal computer, and I thought this may be of interest to your readers. Available through Laerdal, individual licenses can be purchased online at laerdal.com. The fee includes a maximum of 12 category 1 Continuing Medical Education credits upon completion of the CD based cognitive component and completion of a skills verification process. The skills verification component is preformed at a local AHA ACLS training center, which may charge a separate fee.

Like many rural physicians who do not have easy access to ACLS courses, I find it very time consuming and difficult to leave the practice for a day or two to finish the course every few years. A computer-based ACLS system, Actronics, became available years ago. One of the tertiary referral hospitals in the area sent the Actronics system to our hospital at least every year so that the physicians and nurses could continue to be ACLS certified without leaving town. The information became dated and cost prohibitive to update.

Surfing the internet at americanheart.org, I found an announcement about HeartCode ACLS Anywhere CD. I purchased the program online. It took a short time to become oriented to the HeartCode program, and soon I was practicing different scenarios such as the acute coronary syndrome patient. You point and click your way through the evalu- Letter to the Editor ations and treatments. I found the simulations to be very realistic and would predict that a significant portion of the future education of physicians will be done in this manner. After you have completed a simulation, you can go through debriefing where you are given feedback on your decisions. You click on highlighted subjects and a PDF file is accessed containing the reference from the ACLS Provider Manual, ACLS: The Reference Textbook, and 2000 Guidelines for CPR and ECC. Other components of the HeartCode program include various lessons where lectures and slide show reviews are played for each selected area. There is also a written test component in the program.

I think that the HeartCode Anywhere CD was worth the $99.00 even within its limitations. I have not used the 32-hour time limit on the program yet and wonder what will happen when I do. I have not checked with any of the AHA ACLS training centers in my area, so I don’t know if or where the skills evaluation component is available or what it will cost. I must say that I am very impressed with the simulations. They were worth the price of the CD.

Michael F. Reeh, MD Diplomate BCFP, BCGM Hillsboro, KS

Return to the Home Page