Advanced Medical Life Support - AMLS

Course review:

AMLS is the most comprehensive EMS continuing education course addressing the assessment and management of patients. It is for all levels of practitioners with a strong commitment to patient care, including first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse anesthetists and physicians.

The course emphasizes the use of scene size-up, history, interactive group discussion on potential treatment strategies, and physical exam to systematically rule out and consider possibilities and probabilities in treating patients’ medical crises. The course offers an initial assessment-based approach that progresses to a diagnostic-based approach to quickly develop the best treatment plan.

When given a case presentation, students who take AMLS will learn to:

• Identify and manage life-threatening presentations for a variety of medical emergencies, while considering comprehensive patient history, focused physical exam, and diagnostic findings.
• Demonstrate with proficiency the application of the AMLS Assessment Pathway to determine appropriate differential diagnoses and management strategies.
• Compare and contrast the concepts of clinical decision-making, pattern recognition, and clinical reasoning used in the determination of differential diagnoses.

AMLS is a sixteen-hour, two-day program that consists of interactive lectures, teaching and evaluation stations. The interactive/case based lectures include the following topics: Altered mental status and neurologic disorders, Respiratory dysfunction, Shock, Chest discomfort, Endocrine, metabolic and environmental disorders, Abdominal discomfort, Infectious disease, and Toxicologic emergencies, hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction. Teaching stations follow the associated lectures each day.

Students who successfully complete the AMLS course will receive a certificate of completion that is valid for four years.