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Advanced Cardiac Life Support qualifications are essential for medical professionals wanting to practice in the state of Pennsylvania. Getting your ACLS certification or recertification done is an important part of keeping your medical knowledge current and up to date, and there are a number of ACLS courses in Pennsylvania that can be completed in order to achieve this. If you are going to be relocating and are still in another city, or if you just want to save yourself some time, you can also get your certification process done online. News released by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia also highlights that cardiovascular health and emergency treatment remains at the fore of research objectives in the state, focusing on the distance between the person going into cardiac arrest and the nearest automated external defibrillator (AED).
The University says that a victim of cardiac arrest’s chances of survival drop by 10% for every minute that is lost and they do not receive CPR or defibrillation, and explains in part, why survival rates for cardiac arrest patients are so low. In some parts of the country, survival rates may be less than 10%, and some of the findings of the report may give some insight as to why this is the case, in addition to the shortage of professionals with ACLS certification required to operate AEDs.
The results indicated that the majority of cardiac arrest episodes happened within 600-meters of AEDs, which equates to around a 6-minute walk. 7% of cases occurred within 200-meters. Research reports that when a person does not get treatment within 6-minutes, their chances of survival plummet very quickly.
While the data may not look that promising at first glance, it is interesting to note that more than a million AEDs have been purchased since the beginning of the year, to put in public places like shopping malls and recreation centers, airports and gyms, among many other places. Statistical research that was carried out established that the most common places to carry the equipment were schools and college campuses, but other public places are following suit.
Even though the results still need to be published and reviewed in a journal, the findings highlight practical changes that can be made, in order to complement public training and awareness campaigns, in an endeavor to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.
For medical professionals interested in practicing in the state, there are a number of centers throughout Pennsylvania that offer ACLS courses and ACLS renewal programs, whether you need first-time certification or ACLS recertification, such as the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Reading Area Community College, Community Medical Center in Scranton, the Harrisburg Community Left Team, Susquehanna Valley EMS in Columbia and the National Institute of Emergency Care in Philadelphia. Those who don’t have the time available to take an ACLS class may prefer to try an online program.
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