Rural advanced life support update course.

Abstract

Maintaining advanced life support knowledge and skills is both necessary and difficult for family physicians who do part-time emergency medicine at small rural hospitals. An advanced life support update course provided locally in the community, utilizing expert emergency medicine speakers from the appropriate tertiary care referral center, can help address this challenge. This article describes the format, objectives, and educational principles of a successful Rural Advanced Life Support Update Course. This educational model is useful in regions with major referral centers surrounded by small community hospitals where emergency department medical care is provided mostly by family physicians.