The College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center provides a unique opportunity to student pharmacists by offering the American Heart Association (AHA) Advance Cardiac Life Support Certification (ACLS) training. This training is aimed at improving the outcomes of patients who suffer sudden cardiac arrest, particularly in hospital settings. The program enables pharmacists and other health care professionals to respond to such emergencies effectively and quickly.
“ACLS training is an important yet often overlooked component of pharmacy education. Pharmacists have been participating in code teams in the hospital setting for decades, and literature supports that having a pharmacist present can reduce medication errors and mortality,” said Kelly Rogers, professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science in the College of Pharmacy and director of the ACLS course. “There are very few, if any, schools in the country that offer an ACLS class with AHA provider certification, and this gives students, especially those interested in applying for postgraduate training, a unique edge to stand apart from other applicants.”
In the United States, sudden cardiac arrest results in approximately 335,000 adult deaths annually, with 900 Americans dying each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death for most racial and ethnic groups, men, and women in the country, which can increase a person’s chance of experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest. A focus on heart health is especially important during American Heart Awareness Month, which is recognized every February and encourages individuals to prioritize their cardiovascular health.
The college offers a lecture on ACLS to all pharmacy students in their second year and an elective in their third year. The elective, available every January, allows students the opportunity to obtain the AHA ACLS provider training through a month-long program. Students who take the elective participate in an expanded form of the AHA ACLS provider course, culminating in a mega code simulation and skills check-off at the end of the month. A mega code is a training exercise that simulates a cardiac arrest situation. In this exercise, students act as members of a code team to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned. Each student has the opportunity to be the “code team leader,“ and both individual and group performance are evaluated. After successfully completing this mega code, students become certified as AHA ACLS Providers. This is an exceptional opportunity for students interested in postgraduate training, as well as those who may work in a hospital/institutional setting, where code teams respond to cardiac/respiratory arrests.
Read more at our UTHSC news site.