What to Know Before Signing Up to Take PALS Online
PALS online is needed now more than ever. According to the JAMANetwork.com 2020 data, around 15,000 children in the U.S. get CPR in a given year in the hospital setting. As many as 90% will survive the immediate cardiac event. That sounds like an exceptional outcome for these kids. But tragically, the majority don’t survive to discharge. Another study published on nih.gov found that all children (in the study group) who had CPR for longer than 2 minutes out-of-hospital ended up on a ventilator for a length of time, and tended to have a poor longer-term outcomes.
Researchers seek to understand this high mortality rate and the likelihood of poor outcomes for children who experience cardiac arrest in-hospital and out.
What can the medical community do to improve these outcomes? A review of numerous studies finds that improving 5 factors within the hospital could reduce mortality:
- Early identification of a child’s distress
- Prevention of cardiac arrest through the treatment of the cause
- Better post-cardiac event monitoring
- Temperature management to preserve brain function.
- High-quality CPR for children (which they found is currently not administered or administered timely to improve these children’s chances in the majority of the poorer outcomes)
In a nutshell, this review of the current state of Pediatric Advanced Life Support confirms the need for more people within the hospital to have Pediatric Advanced Life Support training. PALS training helps nurses, paramedics, EMTs, doctors, and other professionals coordinate and deliver this child-centric care model to save kids’ lives and quality of life.
Staying current with the age-specific algorithms through periodic PALS recertification is crucial. And thanks to advancements in technology, it’s now easier to certify and recertify with PALS online. But is there anything you need to know about PALS online before spending your money? Let’s take a look.
Your Payment May Go to a Good Cause
If you want to get a PALS certification or recertification, you will pay a small fee. But do you know where this money goes?
SAVE A LIFE EMPOWERED BY ADVANCED MEDICAL CERTIFICATION, a company that offers PALS online, is a Non-Profit 501(c). When you pay for an online course, that doesn’t go into someone’s pocket. Instead, proceeds go to help those in underserved communities worldwide gain access to life-saving education. For example, Save a Life trains and supports in-person trainers who’ve helped over 34,000 underserved people in Nigeria, 2,600 in Peru, 42,000 in the US, and 65,000 in Brazil. Your money is put to good use, saving more lives.
You Can Get Your Money Back
Look for PALS online courses that offer a money-back guarantee. If your employer doesn’t accept your online certification by some off-chance, you should not have to pay for that. The good news is that this rarely happens with trustworthy providers of pediatric advanced life support training. Save a Life, for instance, has a 98% approval rate internationally.
There was a time when employers were skeptical about online learning. Some of that fear was founded early in the days on the Internet when it was hard to confirm who the trustworthy companies were. But a lot of that has changed with enhanced tools from Trust Pilot and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) that help you verify online companies. And on that note. Save a Life has over 16,000 reviews with a 4.8 out of 5 on TrustPilot.com.
Look for Courses that Meet Current ILCOR Standards
If you’re going to take a PALS online course online, it must be current. You could probably find some old YouTube videos that will teach you some of what you learn in a PALS online course. But you never know how old these videos really are or whether they’re using current best practices. They also won’t test what you’ve learned to make sure you learned it.
Even in the past 5 years, the medical community has learned more about the best ways to administer pediatric care to improve outcomes. So it’s essential that you stay up-to-date. ILCOR provides the most up-to-date standards.
What Is ILCOR?
Look for a virtual PALS course that complies with current ILCOR standards. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) is a respected international organization that coordinates medical professionals around the world to test, communicate, and update professionally agreed-upon guidelines for resuscitation organizations.
Your PALS Online Should Be Joint Commission Approved
The Joint Commission verifies the quality of services offered across health and wellness industries. So it’s important to also find a course that has received this prestigious thumbs up. This tells you that those who manage the courses have the highest standards for accuracy, staying current, delivering information, and taking care of those getting certifications through them.
You Can Get Certified on Your Schedule
One of the biggest benefits of getting PALS online is that it’s on your schedule. You don’t have to worry about making it to an in-person class after you complete an extra 12-hour shift for a sick co-worker or spending your day off in a classroom. You don’t have to worry about letting your PALS certification lapse, impacting your license.
Do it online. Take a break. Come back. No pressure. Review the materials. Take the test when you’re ready.
Get PALS Certified in as Few as 8 Hours
It only takes about 8 hours to complete the PALS course. Then you can study if you like or take a practice test. You can do this all at once or spread it out over several days. It’s your choice.
PALS Online Courses Are Self-Paced
We all have different learning styles and preferences. Some people learn well in-person. They tend to be auditory learners and very social people. But most people (65%), according to nih.gov are actually visual learners. Visual learners learn best when they can read, view images and diagrams, and watch videos that they can pause and review as needed.
And it may seem counter-intuitive, but people who learn by doing also benefit from online courses because they can interact with the material in ways that support their own learning. They can go at their own pace.
Finally, people with higher IQs often perform better when they can manage a course’s pace and teach themselves using the available materials. This makes PALS online a good option for them as well.
You Can Get CME Credits
PALS online certifications can count toward your continuing education. It’s important to choose an online course that qualifies for credits, such as Save a Life’s online courses. American Medical Association (AMA) considers Save a Life’s Virtual PALS certification to be a Category 1 Credit.
You Can Take the Course from Anywhere
PALS online courses work great on mobile devices, as long as you have the Internet. And some of the materials are downloadable, so you really can take them anywhere. Work on your PALS recertification while you’re on a break, commuting (as long as you’re not driving), or waiting in line. Online certification courses make completing the course so flexible.
It’s hard to complain about not having the time.
Retakes Are Free
It happens to everyone. You think you know the information so well. Then you freeze on the test. Fortunately, with PALS online courses, you can often retake the test as many times as you need with no extra costs. With that said, look for a course that sets you up for success the first time around. They should provide an online PALS study guide, let you take a PALS practice test, and practice to reassure yourself that you’re ready to test. Find out the Common Overlooked Points That a PALS Pretest Teaches You here.
If you prefer, you can also request printed materials for an extra charge to cover the printed and mailing costs.
Apply What You Learned with Simulations
Now, one of the major complaints about online education is that you’re not able to practice in real life. But we’re increasingly seeing the use of simulations in medical schools, flight schools, engineering, the military, and online that allow people to practice what they’re learning so they remember it better. PALS megacode scenario simulations aren’t quite as technologically advanced as flight schools simulations, but they do give you this more interactive experience. And simulations are timed to be more like real-world scenarios where you must think and act quickly.
Save Money When You Get Free Recerts for a Lifetime
A PALS certification is good for two years. After that, you’ll refresh yourself on the information, learn what’s changed, and take a recertification test. Depending on your career, license, and job requirements, you may need to do this every two years.
Now, getting a PALS certification doesn’t cost that much in the first place. And if you get certified through Save a Life, your money does go to a good cause. But you can save a lot of money by choosing to sign up for PALS for Life, which is just a little more than the price of getting certified/recertified twice.
You can also bundle Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) with Basic Life Support (BLS) and Adult Advanced Life Support (ACLS) for a one-time certification or a lifetime of recertification.
Save Even More Together
Another way to save is bringing a group of people together to take PALS online and get certified together. You only need to be a group of 5 or more to get the discount. You can get a small team certified or share the discount with friends. Learning PALS online is even more fun together. You’ll have more study buddies. And if you all work in the same healthcare setting, you can work together. Apply the principles you’ve learned to help infants, children, and older children facing life-threatening cardiac events.
You Get a Certification Card
PALS online certification programs will provide you with a certification card that you can keep in your wallet and provide as needed to employers. For your convenience, this is usually a printable card that you laminate for safekeeping. Many print shops and shipping centers offer this service for cheap if you don’t have a laminator. You may also be able to request that a card be sent to you in the mail.
Save a Life mails out cards to people without printers.
Do a Test Run
One of the great things about digital goods and services is that it’s pretty easy to let someone try before they buy. That increases consumer confidence. And it also helps you understand if something will work well with your personal learning style and preferences.
If you’re not sure if learning PALS online is right for you, you can try to your heart’s content because the whole PALS course is available online for free. You don’t even have to sign up to take it. Just jump in and start learning. Then when you decide, yes, I want to be PALS certified, you can choose your course bundle. Then study and take your test, pay the small fee, and get your official Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) certification card.
Now Is the Time to Expand Your Horizons
Whether you must have PALS certification for work or not, now is a great time to add this certification to your set of personal accomplishments and your resume. Getting PALS certified can open doors to new opportunities for clinical professionals, daycare professionals, teachers, public service, and more. Why not give PALS online a try.
How do you find the best online PALS course? Share with us.