In response to constraints on training budgets many NHS Trusts are developing their own in-house ALS ‘equivalent’ training. In the short term this may help Trusts to balance their books but, in the long term, poor quality non-standardised training and assessment may be very costly.

The Resuscitation Council (UK) ALS course certificate is recognised across Europe and is valid for 4 years. The holder of an ALS certificate has achieved a standard defined by the Resuscitation Council (UK). The tight quality control applied to the programme, the teaching scenarios, the instructors and the assessment provides some assurance of this standard. Since we will have no such information or control over the standards of the ‘ALS equivalent’ training we clearly cannot offer any similar guarantee concerning successful participants. This would be a matter for individual trusts to agree and recognise.

The course is a revision of the manual. Resuscitation Council (UK) ALS candidates are sent the course manual 4 weeks in advance and have to complete a pre-course MCQ. The manual provides all the essential knowledge so that most of the time on the course can be devoted to skills training. All the materials and assessment tools have been tested robustly and this material is copyrighted. To avoid breaking copyright, ‘ALS equivalent’ centres will have to develop their own training materials.

There is a very real risk that ALS ‘equivalent’ training will not be delivered in standardised or managed way. Inevitably, there will be significant variation between organisations in the content of the training and in its assessment. Candidates who fail the ALS ‘equivalent’ course will have to appeal through local channels.

Training in ALS requires experienced instructors, who are available to teach, supervise and assess the practical training necessary to equip staff with the skills essential to manage these patients. Resuscitation Council (UK) instructors have been trained to teach on these courses but many struggle to obtain leave to teach on the ALS course despite much of this being in their own time and without remuneration. Their skills and experience benefit the patients and the NHS Trusts. These individuals are unlikely to teach on equivalent courses when there is no standardisation or recognition. A central feature of the ALS course is its multidisciplinary approach to training in recognition of the multidisciplinary team involvement during a resuscitation attempt. Doctors, nurses, resuscitation officers and others each have a unique contribution to the course and providing a balanced, multidisciplinary faculty remains a priority for the Council. ALS training without input from doctors will quickly lose its credibility with the Colleges.

We are investing considerable resources in the development of e-learning materials to enable resuscitation training to be delivered more efficiently and cost-effectively. This will reduce the time that NHS staff need to be away from their workplace. Training will remain standardised and the quality preserved.

 
December 2006
 
 
 
 
 

	© Resuscitation Council (UK)  2006   This page last updated: 6 December 2006