ACLS/ALS vs. BLS: What’s the Difference?

When it comes to life-saving techniques, you may have heard of terms like ACLS, ALS and BLS. But what are they, what is the difference, and which type of training is right for you? Let's start with the definitions.

What is BLS?

Basic Life Support, or BLS, is a set of life-saving procedures performed during sudden cardiac arrest. The goal is straightforward: maintain the life functions of a person who is experiencing cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, until advanced medical care can be provided.

Who Should Take a BLS Class?

BLS classes are open to everyone, but it is designed for healthcare professionals and first responders. BLS classes teach you the life-saving skills you need to act quickly and effectively in a cardiac emergency, whether it happens at work, home, school, or anywhere else.

What Does BLS Include?

The training includes techniques like CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), management of airway obstruction, rescue breaths, and/or the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator) for delivering care to infants, children, and adults.

What is ACLS?

ACLS stands for Advanced Cardiac Life Support and is also referred to as ALS, or Advanced Life Support, but they cover the same techniques. This type of training builds on BLS techniques with more sophisticated interventions and procedures. The goal is to stabilize critical patients who may have suffered a life-threatening event like cardiac arrest, acute coronary syndrome, or stroke. It's worth noting that American Red Cross ALS courses provide high-quality care and integrating psychomotor skills with critical thinking and problem-solving to achieve the best possible patient outcomes.

Who Should Take an ALS/ACLS Class?

ALS courses offer an advanced certification designed specifically for healthcare professionals, like physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, paramedics, respiratory therapists, dentists, and others who need to manage more complex medical emergencies.

What Does ALS/ACLS Include?

ALS builds upon BLS training with techniques that include advanced airway management, IV access, medication administration, and electrical therapies (e.g., defibrillation, cardioversion, transcutaneous pacing).

What's the Difference Between ACLS/ALS Certification vs. BLS Certification?

Both provide life-saving techniques during an emergency. However, the level of care differs, as does the training required, the equipment used, and the setting. As part of Red Cross ALS training, for example, healthcare professionals will learn advanced life-support assessment, as well as how to best manage respiratory emergencies, protocols for acute arrhythmias, cardiac arrest (including post-cardiac arrest care), acute coronary syndromes and acute stroke within or outside of a medical facility setting.

Where Can You Get ALS and BLS Training?

The Red Cross can help you complete your ALS certification and/or BLS certification quickly and easily. Our classes let you combine online work with hands-on training, so they fit just about any schedule and learning style. In addition, our adaptive learning functionality allows you to follow a personalized learning path that gives you the option to test out of a lesson, or test out of specific topics within a lesson, resulting in reduced overall class time.

For more than a century, the Red Cross has prepared people to respond to emergencies of all sizes, from the everyday to the large disaster. Join the millions we train every year and learn skills that can help save a life. Find your class and sign up today.