ACLSMED
Est. 2013
Instructor Manual · Revision 1.1
Run the code.
Own the room.
The complete instructor guide to ACLSMED™ SIM — the tablet clinical suite — and ACLSMED™ CPR, the free compression-quality trainer for your learners' phones.
ProductsSIM · CPR
AudienceInstructors & Sim Leads
GuidelinesAHA 2025
Supportsupport@aclsmed.com
Overview
Two apps, one system
|
 ACLSMED™ SIM |
 ACLSMED™ CPR |
| Runs on | iPad (tablet) | iPhone & Android phones |
| Price | Paid — plan per account | Free no account, no ads |
| Held by | You + student roles | One per learner at the manikin |
| Does | Monitor/defib, instructor remote, IV pump, ventilator, 33 MegaCodes | Measures compression rate, depth & hands-on time on a manikin |
| Network | Local peer-to-peer between your devices | Local peer-to-peer to a SIM tablet |
Why the split matters
Because CPR needs no account, you can tell twenty learners to install it in the parking lot and it just works. Nothing they do touches your seat count, and nothing leaves their phone.
§ 01
Before you teach
What goes on the table, and the ten minutes that decide whether the session runs clean.
§ 01.01 — Room kit
What you need in the room
iPad · MONITOR
The patient
Place it where a real monitor lives — head of the bed, screen out. This is what the team treats.
iPad · INSTRUCTOR
Yours only
Never in a learner's line of sight. Everything you touch appears on their monitor as if the patient did it.
Manikin or mat
Any compression surface
The suite doesn't talk to manikin hardware — it doesn't need to.
A local network
Or none at all
Devices find each other peer-to-peer. No internet needed once you're signed in.
Do this before every class
Charge above 80%, set Auto-Lock → Never, turn on Do Not Disturb. A monitor that sleeps mid-arrest is the most common avoidable failure in a live session.
§ 01.02 — Setup
The ten-minute room build
- Power and unlock. Charged, Auto-Lock off, Do Not Disturb on.
- Same network. Every tablet on one Wi-Fi; leave Bluetooth on — discovery uses both.
- Sign in and assign roles. Monitor on the patient iPad, Instructor on yours.
- Confirm the link. The Monitor's
CONNECTION panel shows a green tick per role.
- Rehearse one beat. Change a rhythm from your remote; watch the Monitor follow. If it does, the room is live.
- Seat the learners. Hand out phones for CPR, then brief scope: manikin only.
§ 02
ACLSMED™ SIM
One patient state, broadcast live to every instrument in the code. You change the patient; the team works the machine.
§ 02.01 — Roles
Each tablet is one instrument
MONITOR
Patient monitor + defib
INSTRUCTOR
Orchestrator remote
RESPMED
Ventilator · Suite
CPR SIMULATOR
Multi-student CPR test
The choice persists across restarts — label a tablet "Monitor" and it stays the monitor. Change it later in Settings.
§ 02.02 — Pairing
No codes to type
Devices advertise themselves on the local network, connect automatically, and sign every message they exchange — so a stray tablet next door cannot drive your patient. Confirm on the Monitor's CONNECTION panel: green tick = live, red cross = not connected.
If a role won't connect
1. Same Wi-Fi · Bluetooth on · Airplane Mode off. 2. Accept the local-network prompt (Settings → ACLSMED → Local Network). 3. Guest/enterprise Wi-Fi often blocks device-to-device traffic — use a phone hotspot, or turn Wi-Fi off and let them pair directly. 4. Force-quit both, relaunch Monitor first.
§ 02.03 — Instructor Remote
The screen you'll live in
It mirrors the students' monitor at the top, gives you every dial in the middle, and reports what the team actually did at the bottom.
- Tabs — HUB · RHYTHMS · MEGA CODES · MEDS · CODE SUMMARY
- Patient strip — identity, scenario, bed
- Vitals sliders — every channel, each with a normal band
- PACER + DEFIB — preset before a beat
- Quick Actions — fire 12-lead, X-ray, labs
- Monitor Mirror — read-only student truth
§ 02.03 — Instructor Remote
Six regions, whole code
| Region | Use it to… |
|---|
Vitals sliders
HR · SpO₂ · ABP (live MAP) · PA · RR · CVP · EtCO₂ · Temp | Deteriorate or improve in real time. Toggling a channel off removes that trace from the monitor entirely. |
| PACER | Reward correct transcutaneous pacing — or show capture failing at too low an output. |
DEFIB
50 / 150 / 200 / 360 J | Preset the machine before a beat; reset between cases. |
| Rhythm selector | Step the catalog or jump to a specific rhythm — 60+ entries. |
| Quick Actions | Fire 12-Lead, X-RAY, Labs or Silence onto the student monitor the moment the team asks. |
| Monitor Mirror | See shocks delivered, energy used, pacer settings — without walking over. |
Habit worth building
During an arrest watch the Monitor Mirror, not the students' hands. Shock count and energy tell you if they're following the algorithm better than their narration does.
§ 02.04 — The Monitor
What the learners see
Lead II ECG · SpO₂ pleth · EtCO₂ capno, with numerics and normal ranges. Defib column: DEFIB / AED / SYNC / ANALYZE, energy dial, CHARGE, SHOCK, pacer. Bottom toolbar: MEGA CODES · RHYTHM · SUMMARY · 12-LEAD · X-RAY · LABS · MEDS · CPR · PADS · NIBP · SILENCE.
§ 02.04 — The Monitor
Three things learners miss
SYNC exists
Synchronized cardioversion behaves differently from a defibrillation shock. Using it is graded reality.
ANALYZE / AED mode
The same machine becomes an AED — one iPad covers BLS and ACLS audiences.
SILENCE ≠ fixed
It silences the alarm without fixing the patient. Watch who reaches for it first — best teaching moment in the app.
Monitor skins — match the face to the environment you teach
§ 02.05 — Driving the patient
Two ways to move a patient
Slide a vital
Gradual
Drag HR, SpO₂, ABP, EtCO₂ or Temp. Small increments simulate a decline; large ones an event.
Change the rhythm
Discrete
Step with the arrows or pick from the catalog — 60+ entries across sinus, blocks, tachycardias, arrest rhythms and artifact.
Make deterioration believable
Real patients don't jump. Drop pressure and saturation first, give the team a beat to notice, and only then convert to VF. Learners taught to read the trend beat learners taught to react to the alarm.
§ 02.05 — Data on demand
Give them data when they ask
A full 12-lead with rhythm strip, patient header and interpretation line — fired from your remote onto their monitor. Zoom, SAVE and PRINT are live: print the tracing and put it in their hands for the debrief. X-ray and labs work the same way. Footer carries the simulation-only disclaimer.
§ 02.06 — MegaCodes
33 MegaCode scenarios
| Category | n | Examples |
|---|
| ACLS — Cardiac Arrest | 4 | Pulseless VT · Refractory VF · PEA (hypovolemia) · Asystole (opioid) |
| ACLS — Tachycardia | 4 | Stable & unstable VT · SVT · AF with RVR |
| ACLS — Bradycardia | 3 | Symptomatic sinus brady · Complete block · Mobitz II |
| BLS | 2 | Witnessed arrest with AED · Drowning |
| PALS / Neonatal | 4 | Pediatric VF · Infant brady · Peds SVT · NRP |
| Stroke | 2 | Ischemic — tPA decision · Hemorrhagic — BP management |
| ACS / STEMI | 4 | Anterior · Inferior (RV) · Anterior → VF · Posterior |
| H's and T's | 5 | Tension pneumo · Tamponade · Hyperkalemia · PE · Hypothermia |
| Medical Emergencies | 4 | Anaphylaxis · Sepsis · Submassive PE · TCA overdose |
| Advanced Resuscitation | 1 | Post-ROSC / post-cardiac-arrest care |
Each ships with a patient record, dispatch scene, history, opening vitals, expected monitor interpretation, labs, an optional chest film, and learning objectives.
§ 02.06 — Important
You are the algorithm engine
Read this before your first session
ACLSMED does not step a scenario forward on its own and does not score the team's decisions. Loading a MegaCode sets the stage — patient, starting rhythm, opening vitals. You decide when the patient deteriorates, converts, or achieves ROSC.
This is deliberate. It keeps clinical judgment with the instructor instead of with a script — which is why the same scenario can teach a first-year nurse and a senior resident differently. The cost is that you must plan your beats before class.
§ 02.06 — Structure
The five-beat code
| Beat | You do | You're testing |
|---|
| 1 · Present | Load the scenario, read the dispatch scene, let them assess. | Primary survey, rhythm recognition |
| 2 · Confirm | Fire the 12-lead or labs when asked — not before. | Whether they ask for the right data |
| 3 · Pressure | Slide pressure and saturation down. Say nothing. | Trend recognition, closed-loop comms |
| 4 · Event | Convert the rhythm — arrest, block, tachyarrhythmia. | Algorithm execution, shock/drug timing |
| 5 · Resolve | Reward correct care with ROSC, or continue the arrest. | Post-ROSC thinking — or an honest debrief |
§ 02.07 — Suite tier
Add the real task load
IVmed — two-channel pump, hardware keypad
RESPmed — vent waveforms, predicted body weight
Two more instruments bound to the same patient. Someone has to actually program the pump and manage the vent while the code runs — that task saturation is the point. Teaching cue: set an obese patient's height in RESPmed and let the class see lung-protective volume follow predicted weight, not actual.
§ 02.08 — Debrief
Debrief from data
The running log: events, shocks, energy delivered and timings. Open it the moment you call the code.
Capture it before you power-cycle
The log states it plainly: wiped on power-cycle. Debrief first, or screenshot it. Restart the app and the timeline is gone.
"You gave epi at 4:10 and the second shock at 4:55" is a conversation. "I think you were slow" is an argument.
§ 03
ACLSMED™ CPR
Six learners, six phones, one board. Free, no account — and it measures what they actually did.
§ 03.00 — Scope of use
Say this to every class
Manikin only · training only
ACLSMED™ CPR is a training aid for use on a manikin only. It is not a medical device, it is not for use on or during the care of a real patient, and its readings are for education and feedback in a simulation setting.
Say it out loud before the first test — it is part of using the product correctly. The app enforces it too: every learner passes a training-only acknowledgement before they can start.
§ 03.01 — How it works
Phone measures. Board teaches.
- The learner's phone runs the free app. Motion sensors detect each compression; rate, depth and hands-on time are computed on the phone. Nothing is uploaded; there is no account.
- Your iPad runs SIM in the CPR SIMULATOR role — up to six phones, one per slot, live side by side.
Send them home with it
The phone works without a tablet — it just has no board to stream to. So the homework is real: "practice at home, bring me your rate and depth next week."
§ 03.02 — On the phone
Eyes up, not on the screen
READY — connected, hands over the device
ACTIVE — compressions, time, running score
The phone deliberately shows a ring and three numbers, and tells the learner "live feedback is on the monitor" — so their eyes stay on the manikin and the room. A 110/min metronome is built in for pacing drills.
§ 03.03 — On the phone
Scores and coaching, not fake precision
TEST COMPLETE — score, band, per-category coaching
SESSION SUMMARY — depth & rate zones, hands-on, release speed
Each category carries a sentence the learner can act on — "on target, a good steady pace"; "meets the guideline — shorten pauses to reach 80%." The app shows zones and scores rather than centimetre readouts, because a phone's honest depth error is a few millimetres against a 10 mm-wide target.
§ 03.04 — The board
Six learners at once
Slots 1–6 fill green as phones connect. Each row builds red → yellow → green by depth zone, with a live verdict — GOOD, ALMOST, PUSH HARDER. The countdown is the remaining test time; two minutes is one full AHA compression cycle.
§ 03.04 — Coaching
Read the bar, say the words
| Bar reads | Verdict | Say this |
|---|
| Reaches the green band | Good | "That's the depth. Hold it — don't drift." |
| Stalls in the yellow band | Almost | "Nearly there. A centimetre more, same rate." |
| Stays in the red band | Push harder | "Straight arms, shoulders over your hands, use your body weight." |
| Overshoots past green | Too deep | "Ease off slightly — over 6 cm has its own harms." |
The move that changes behaviour
Run the first round with the board hidden. Learners who see live feedback from the first compression never find out what their unassisted CPR looks like — and that gap is the entire lesson.
§ 03.05 — Results
One ring each, one instruction
Per learner: OVERALL plus RATE / DEPTH / CCF, and one prescriptive badge — GREAT CPR, FOCUS: DEPTH, FOCUS: RATE. Note the teaching point in the data: a learner can hold a 90% rate and still finish at 60% overall because depth was 30%. Read the sub-rings aloud, then the badge — a learner told "60%" hears a grade; a learner told "push a centimetre deeper" hears an instruction.
§ 03.06 — The maths
Where that number comes from
Overall = 0.375 × Rate + 0.375 × Depth + 0.25 × CCF
| Component | Target band | Weight | Note |
|---|
| Rate | 100–120 / min | 37.5% | Full marks inside the band, tapering outside it. |
| Depth | 5.0–6.0 cm | 37.5% | Penalised for shallow and excessive. |
| CCF | ≥60% floor · 80% target | 25% | Guideline floor 60%; full marks at the high-performance 80%. |
Targets follow the AHA 2025 Guidelines, Part 7: Adult Basic Life Support. Scores use a rolling average, not a single compression — so measurement scatter doesn't dock textbook technique. The three rings you see are the score; there is no hidden fourth dimension.
§ 03.07 — Honesty
Limits you must teach
| Limitation | Tell learners |
|---|
| Recoil isn't measured | One phone sensor cannot detect leaning. Full recoil still matters enormously — you coach it by eye. The app is silent on it, not forgiving of it. |
| Depth is an estimate | A sensor estimate on a manikin, not a calibrated measurement. Use it to drive behaviour, not to certify a millimetre. |
| Placement changes it | Same technique, different phone position, different number. Standardise before comparing learners. |
| Surface matters | A manikin on a soft bed reads differently from one on the floor. Keep it constant within a session. |
| Manikin only | Never on a person. Not in a real arrest, not "just to see." |
Fair leaderboards
A leaderboard is only fair when every station is identical. Strapped to the back of one hand and gripped in another's fist ranks phone position, not CPR.
§ 04
Teaching playbooks
Three sessions that work out of the box, and the debrief that makes any of them stick.
§ 04.01 — Playbook
60-minute ACLS refresher
| Time | Block | What you run |
|---|
| 0–5 | Orient | Show the Monitor. Point at SYNC, ANALYZE, SILENCE. They work the machine; you are the patient. |
| 5–15 | Rhythm drill | Step the catalog, call each cold. Fast, high-repetition recognition. |
| 15–25 | Skill isolation | One skill each: charge/shock · sync cardioversion · pace to capture. |
| 25–45 | Two MegaCodes | One shockable, one not — Pulseless VT, then PEA — Hypovolemia. Five-beat structure. |
| 45–60 | Debrief | Open CODE SUMMARY, walk the timeline. One keep + one change per learner. |
§ 04.02 — Playbook
30-minute CPR quality lab
| Time | Block | What you run |
|---|
| 0–5 | Scope + setup | State manikin-only scope. Install, fill slots, standardise phone placement. |
| 5–10 | Baseline | Two-minute test. No coaching, board hidden. The honest starting point. |
| 10–18 | Coached round | Board visible. Coach live off the bars with the verdict words. Rotate compressors. |
| 18–25 | Re-test | Two minutes again — same placement, same surface. Compare to baseline. |
| 25–30 | Debrief | Sub-rings and focus badges. Name the limits. One target each for next time. |
§ 04.03 — Playbook
Full mock code & the debrief
Four tablets + phones on the compressors.
- Assign real roles — leader, compressor, airway, drugs, recorder (on paper).
- Load a reversible-cause case — Hyperkalemia → VF or Tension Pneumo → PEA.
- Run straight through. No stopping, no coaching. Let mistakes happen.
- Layer task load: pump on IVmed, vent on RESPmed, during the code.
- Debrief from three sources: Code Summary, CPR board, recorder's sheet.
Debriefing that lands
Learner first — "walk me through what you saw." They usually name their own error.
Then the data — timeline, shock count, compression scores. Timestamped and unarguable.
One change each — not five, stated as an action.
Close on competence — they remember the last thing you said.
§ 05.01 — Reference
When it goes wrong live
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|
| Instructor and Monitor won't link | Same Wi-Fi · Bluetooth on · Airplane off. Settings → ACLSMED → Local Network → on. Relaunch Monitor first. |
| Worked yesterday, fails on hospital Wi-Fi | Guest/enterprise networks block device-to-device. Use a phone hotspot, or turn Wi-Fi off and pair directly. |
| Monitor sleeps mid-scenario | Auto-Lock → Never, on every tablet, before class. |
| Remote changes don't land | Check the CONNECTION panel; reconnect, then confirm with one rhythm change before resuming. |
| A phone won't take a CPR slot | All six full, or the phone is on another network. |
| Depth reads implausibly low/high | Re-seat the phone flat against the back of the hand, screen up. Keep the surface identical. |
| Code Summary is empty | It is wiped on power-cycle — capture it before restarting. |
| Can't sign in on a new iPad | All seats held. Release the seat on the retired device first. |
§ 05.02 — Reference
Keep this beside the tablet
| Parameter | Target | Scored |
|---|
| Compression rate | 100–120/min | 37.5% |
| Compression depth | 5.0–6.0 cm | 37.5% |
| Compression fraction | ≥60% · 80% | 25% |
| Full chest recoil | Every one | Coach by eye |
| Test length | 2:00 | One cycle |
| Stations per tablet | 6 | One phone each |
Pre-class checklist
▢ Tablets >80%, Auto-Lock off, DND on
▢ One network; local-network permission granted
▢ Roles assigned; CONNECTION all green
▢ Scenario chosen, beats planned
▢ CPR: app installed, slots filled, placement standardised
▢ Scope stated: manikin only, training only
Support support@aclsmed.com · Downloads aclsmed.com/download · Team seats aclsmed.com/institutions
Fin
Now go run a code.
ACLSMED™ SIM and ACLSMED™ CPR are education and simulation software for use with simulated patients and training manikins. Neither is a medical device; neither is intended for use on, or during the care of, a real patient; and neither replaces an accredited AHA course or your own clinical judgment. Clinical targets follow the AHA 2025 Guidelines for CPR and ECC.
Revision1.1 · 2026
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