Pass ACLS Tip of the Day
I'm Paul from PassACLS.com and I'm here to help you pass ACLS. Like an audio flash card, this podcast is intended to aid any medical professional preparing for an Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) class. Each three-to-nine minute episode covers one of the skills needed to recognize a stroke or cardiac emergency and work as a high performing team to deliver safe, quality patient care.
Listening to a tip a day for a few weeks prior to your ACLS class will help cement the core concepts that have been shown to improve outcomes in patients suffering a heart attack, cardiac arrest, or stroke. In addition to the Chain of Survival, core concepts, and ACLS algorithms; specific information needed to pass the written exam, BLS checks, and megacode following the 2020 guidelines is presented.
Healthcare providers that are already ACLS certified, but rarely participate in codes, may find listening a helpful reminder.
Disclaimer: This podcast is a supplement to your course's approved text book and videos - not a replacement. The information presented is for educational purposes only, is intended for medical professionals, and is not medical advice. Medical professionals should follow their local laws, agency protocols, and act only within their scope of practice.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 5 minutes
- Episodes
- 81
- Years Active
- 2025
Vagal Maneuvers for Stable Tachycardia
Patients with a narrow complex tachycardia with a rate over 150 BPM are in SVT.
Unstable patients in SVT or V-Tach with a pulse, should be cardioverted with a synchronized shock.
Assessment & treatmen…
Defibrillation & Synchronized Cardioversion Energy Settings
Remembering all the different energy setting needed for synchronized cardioversion and defibrillation used to be confusing for a lot of people.
Defibrillators can be broken down into three basic categ…
Identification and Treatment of Unstable Bradycardia
Patients with a heart rate less than 60 are bradycardic. Some people can have a resting heart rate in the 40s without any compromise. For others, a heart rate of 50 or less could signify the need fo…
Post-Arrest Care & Targeted Temperature Management (TTM)
The goal of CPR is to keep the brain and vital organs perfused until return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is achieved.
Post-arrest care and recovery are the final two links in the chain of surviva…
The Chain of Survival for Cardiac & Stroke Emergencies
The chain of survival for ACLS is the same as was learned in your BLS class.
The beginning steps of the Cardiac Emergency and Stroke chain of survival.
ACLS's timed goals for first medical contact to P…
Hypokalemia & Hyperkalemia as an H&T Reversible Cause
Heart muscle contraction and repolarization is dependent on Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium ions crossing cellular membranes.
When a patient’s potassium levels get too low or too high, hypok…
Time Goals for Stroke Assessment & Therapy
When treating patients having an MI or stroke, more minutes equals more dead cells.
Because the majority of strokes are the ischemic type, the treatment for stroke is similar to an MI – to reestabli…
Medication Review: Adenosine
Adenosine is the first IV medication given to stable patients with sustained supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) refractory to vagal maneuvers.
Symptoms indicating a stable vs unstable patient.
Common c…
Identification of Second-Degree AV Blocks and Their Treatment
To pass the written ACLS exam and mega code, students need to be able to identify basic ECG dysrhythmias, including the two types of second-degree heart block.
One method of ECG rhythm identification …
Oxygen and Pulse Oximetry
When treating patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), MONA is an acronym sometimes used to help us remember the initial interventions.
The O in MONA is Oxygen.
When we should administer oxygen to …
Objective Measures of Good CPR
Along with early defibrillation, high quality CPR with minimal interruptions is one of the two factors that has been shown to improve cardiac arrest outcomes.
How do we know if high quality, effective…
Bradycardia Dosing for Atropine & Dopamine
When we should use the bradycardia algorithm.
The signs & symptoms of unstable bradycardia.
Atropine's bradycardic dose and maximum.
The use of atropine when a patient is in a second degree type II o…
Oropharyngeal Airway (OPA) Review
The tongue is the most common airway obstruction in an unconscious patient.
Insertion an oropharyngeal airway helps keep the patient’s tongue from falling to the back of the pharynx, causing an airway…
Hypoxia: An H&T Reversible Cause of Cardiac Arrest
Hypoxia is a state of low oxygen levels in the blood.
Determining hypoxia using a pulse oximeter or arterial blood gasses (ABGs).
A goal of ACLS is to recognize signs of hypoxia and provide timely tr…
Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)
ECG characteristics of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) vs. sinus tachycardia.
Signs & symptoms that indicate a patient is unstable.
Delivery of a synchronized shock for the treatment of unstable SVT…
Administration of Epinephrine During Cardiac Arrest
When working to resuscitate a patient in sudden cardiac arrest, Epinephrine is the first IV medication we administer.
When we give the first dose of epinephrine depends on whether the patient is in…
Common Conditions That Can Mimic a Stroke
If a person suddenly develops symptoms such as weakness, slurred or garbled speech, loss of balance, or a massive & severe headache; it’s possible they could be having a stroke.
The Cincinnati Prehosp…
IO & ETT Routes for Medication Administration
Most ACLS medications are given IV push. But, what happens if we can't get an IV?
Why IO is better than ETT as an alternative route.
The locations we should place an IO when running a code and a locat…
EMS and Transportation to the Most Appropriate Facility
The chain of survival for a cardiac emergency and stroke start the same:
1. preparedness & recognition of an emergency;
2. activation of EMS;
3. delivery of Advanced Life Support; and
4. transporting…
Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Review
Performing good CPR and delivering a shock as soon as possible to a patient in Ventricular Fibrillation or pulseless V-Tach are the two most critical interventions that have been shown to increase s…