PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)

The AHA’s Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Course has been updated to reflect new science in the 2020 AHA Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC.

This classroom, Instructor-led course uses a series of videos and simulated pediatric emergencies to reinforce the important concepts of a systematic approach to pediatric assessment, basic life support, PALS treatment algorithms, effective resuscitation, and team dynamics.

The goal of the PALS Course is to improve the quality of care provided to seriously ill or injured children, resulting in improved outcomes.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

•  Perform high-quality Child CPR AED and Infant CPR per AHA BLS recommendations
• Differentiate between patients who do and do not require immediate intervention
• Recognize cardiopulmonary arrest early and begin CPR within 10 seconds
• Apply team dynamics
• Differentiate between respiratory distress and failure
• Perform early interventions for respiratory distress and failure
• Differentiate between compensated and decompensated (hypotensive) shock
• Perform early interventions for the treatment of shock
• Differentiate between unstable and stable patients with arrhythmias
• Describe clinical characteristics of instability in patients with arrhythmias
• Implement post-cardiac arrest management

Students who successfully complete the PALS Course (including achieving a score of 84% or higher on the course exam) will receive a PALS Provider course completion card (print or eCard), valid for two years.

AHA Disclaimer:

The American Heart Association strongly promotes knowledge and proficiency in BLS, ACLS, and PALS and has developed instructional material for this purpose.

Use of these materials in an education course does not represent course sponsorship by the American Heart Association. Any fees charged for such a course, except for a portion of fees needed for AHA course material, do not represent income to the Association.