Resuscitation Council (UK)
FAQs - ALS

Frequently asked questions

ALS course candidates

The ALS provider course is designed for healthcare professionals who would be expected to apply the skills taught as part of their clinical duties, or to teach them on a regular basis. Appropriate participants include doctors, and nurses working in critical care areas (e.g. ED, CCU, ICU, HDU, operating theatres, acute medical admissions units) or in the resuscitation/medical emergency team, and paramedics.

 
All applicants must hold a current clinical appointment and professional healthcare qualification, or be in training for a professional healthcare qualification. 
 
Medical students, nurses and other healthcare providers not covered in the groups above should be encouraged to complete the Immediate Life Support (ILS) course. Those with a particular interest in resuscitation should then consider attending an ALS provider course, where appropriate. Medical students in their final year of training can be accepted as candidates on an ALS course if this is an established local arrangement.

No, BLS is not taught on the ALS course. Competency in BLS skills is an essential prerequisite to attending the course. Further information about the ALS course learning outcomes and curriculum are available in the course information.

The provider certificate is valid for 4 years from the date of your course.

For courses taken since January 2012 you may download your certificate by logging on to lms.resus.org.uk. Your certificate will always be available for you to download from your LMS account:

Your course certificate can found within two areas of the LMS:

  1. within the enrolled course --> 'Post course'
  2. within 'My profile’ --> ‘View profile'

You may recertify by attending one of the following course modes: traditional 2-day, e-ALS, the ALS modular course, or the 1-day ALS recertification course. The 1-day recertification course is not recommended if more than one year has passed since your certificate expiry date or if you are not practicing the skills within your job role.
You have one year from the expiry date of your certificate within which to recertify.

The route to becoming an ALS Instructor begins by attending the ALS Provider course. The faculty may nominate a candidate for Instructor Potential selection at the final faculty meeting. If you are selected and wish to pursue the training you must attend a Generic Instructor Course (GIC) and successfully complete two teaching practices as an Instructor Candidate (IC) before becoming a full instructor.

Yes. Candidates attending the course may claim five points per day (i.e.
2-day ALS, eALS courses = 10 CPD points
ALS recertification course = 5 CPD points).

Faculty teaching on the course may also claim points but no more than ten points in any one year.

If you have any further queries regarding CPD please contact your Royal College.

If the FAQs do not address your clinical enquiry submit your query using the contact form providing clear and full details. Enquiries are forwarded to the most appropriate clinician and are answered as soon as is practical.

ALS certificates provided by the ERC or ARC are recognised by RC (UK) because these organisations use the same programme, teaching material, and assessment process.

The RC (UK) is not a validating organisation. The only courses it validates are courses developed by the RC (UK) because it sets the standards for the programme, the teaching scenarios, the instructors, the assessment process and course centres. Since we have no such information or control over the standards of other courses we cannot offer any similar guarantee concerning successful participants and do not accept these certificates as equivalent to the RC (UK) courses.
 
The level of qualification, training and experience needed for any individual clinical role is the responsibility of the employer, not the RC (UK).

The payment of any course fees is a contract between the candidate and course centre. The Resuscitation Council (UK) has no jurisdiction over the payment and/or potential refund of fees. Complaints regarding fees should be made directly to the course centre.
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