ACLS Cards Approved by NREMT

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) cards are given to emergency medical technicians (EMT) and other individuals who successfully complete the certification process. To be certified for an ACLS card, an individual must complete training on ethics, syndromes and various other medical conditions. While ACLS training may be completed anywhere, the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) requires that a specific amount of hours be spent in each instructional section for the card to be approved.

Course Makeup

• All courses that adhere to the following schedule are recognized by NREMT: at least one hour is dedicated to preparation, and two hours are given to airway instruction; four hours must be devoted to trauma, and two hours to obstetrics for children and infants; three hours should be given to patient assessment instructions, four hours to medical/behavioral training, and eight hours of electives in basic EMT training is mandatory. Courses that abide by this description will either receive ACLS cards approved by NREMT or credit that may be used towards to national registry testing process.

Heart Code ACLS

• Heart Code is an ACLS program that may partially be completed over the Internet. The program is composed of 32 hours, with 12 checkpoints that require completion before an online final exam is administered. After completing the final exam, the individual must schedule and complete classroom training with an American Heart Association (AHA) instructor. Upon culmination of classroom training, the AHA will mail ACLS cards to successful students. ACLS courses offered through Heart Code are approved by the NREMT.

Pacific Medical Training

• Contrary to Heart Code, which does not favor any particular certification status, Pacific Medical Training offers a course that is primarily designed for recertification. While students receive an ACLS card upon successful completion of the course, the card is not approved by the NREMT. The hours spent at Pacific Medical Training, however, may be used toward the 48 hours required by the NREMT for continuing education. NREMT allows a maximum of 16 hours from Pacific Medical Training to be contributed toward continuing education.