Thanks in great part to effective training through healthcare simulation, life-saving emergency medical services have advanced considerably in the modern era. Time-critical care is now provided to emergency patients at the point of care via rapidly-deployed helicopters, aeromedical transport, high-speed road vehicles and, even, by flying ambulance drone.

At their best, emergency medical service providers assess and triage patients at the point-of-injury, out-of-hospital, and in-the-field where time is of the essence. Once stabilized, patients are transferred to hospitals where they receive advanced treatment and care. 

But before a patient can be treated in hospital, EMS and EMT crews need to first know how to effectively manage prehospital patient emergencies.

Towards this end, the American Heart Association (AHA) has established the "Chain of Survival," a set of critical health care actions which, when implemented correctly, can help to save more lives. 

Improvements in training and timely access to out-of-hospital emergency care can greatly improve outcomes and survival rates now, and into the future. This is just part of the reason the EMS community is fiercely committed to strengthening advanced life support (or, ALS) through continued education, essential skills development, and constructive knowledge sharing.