Naturopathic Advanced Life Support (NALS)

NALS is not a general life support course with a naturopathic label on it. It is built around what actually happens in a naturopathic clinic: who is in the room, what you are permitted to do, and which emergencies your own procedures cause.

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College-approved

This course is one of the Naturopathic Advanced Life Support courses the College of Complementary Health Professionals of British Columbia accepts to satisfy the NALS requirement. It was certified by the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia in June 2021 and has been listed continuously since, through the College's amalgamation into CCHPBC in June 2024.

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Why it matters

You cannot prescribe, compound, dispense or administer a drug in British Columbia without current NALS. The College's standard is explicit about it, and the requirement then repeats through every certification that touches a needle or a vein: acupuncture, prescriptive authority, IV therapy, IV and chelation, ozone and oxidative therapies, advanced injection therapies, immunization, IUD insertion, cosmetic and medical botulinum toxin, injectable fillers and threads, PRP and plasma gel, mesotherapy and body contouring, allergy desensitization and scratch testing, and the etonogestrel subdermal implant.

The College requires emergency training precisely where practice becomes invasive: where a needle enters a joint, a catheter enters a vein, a gas enters a body cavity, or a drug enters a bloodstream.

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Every step is marked for the authority it needs

Ten of the eleven certification areas also require Prescriptive Authority. Most NDs holding NALS are therefore working at a level of intervention that general emergency courses never address — and are held to a scope those courses never mention. So every clinical step in this course is marked for what it requires:

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Unmarked — Tier 1.

Every ND, in every clinic. Recognition, positioning, oxygen, BLS and AED, oral and intramuscular routes, calling 911, monitoring, handover and documentation.

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Rx — Prescriptive Authority.

Any drug you give.

 

Rx + IV — and IV certification.

Venous access, fluid resuscitation, intravenous drugs.

Out of scope. Shown so you recognize it, not so you do it — what EMS or the receiving hospital will provide. Knowing what comes next tells you how urgently to move, and what to say when you call.

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You read only the steps your certifications cover, and you know which ones those are before the emergency rather than during it.

One consequence runs through the whole course. The College does not permit a restricted activity to be delegated to anyone: in your clinic you personally give every drug, no matter how well trained your staff are. Team roles are built around that constraint — compressions, AED, the 911 call, runner, timekeeper and scribe are theirs; drugs and airway are yours — rather than around a hospital code team that does not exist in your office.

 

What you take away

The NALS Manual. Twenty-six chapters.

The method first — an emergency in a naturopathic clinic, the systematic approach,

your team and the delegation rule, the kit, oxygen and ventilation, monitoring,

and the call and handover. Then the core medical emergencies and the procedure

emergencies, chapter by chapter. Then scope of practice across Canada, an

emergency drug formulary written to what an ND may actually prescribe, and the

clinic checklists and forms. Every clinical claim is traced to a named primary source.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The algorithm deck. Twenty-two emergencies, one to a card, printed on both sides and read at arm's length.

 

Eleven core medical emergencies, and eleven that belong to the procedures you are certified in. Each card carries its own colour down the fore edge, warm for Part 1 and cool for Part 2, so you find the page with your thumb rather than by reading — which is the only way an emergency reference is ever actually used.

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​​​​​​​​​​​Part one — nine online modules.  

Self-paced, roughly four hours, completed before the in-person day.

1. Why NALS, and what you may lawfully do

2. The systematic approach and your team

3. Kit, oxygen and monitoring

4. Airway and breathing emergencies

5. Circulation emergencies

6. Neurological and metabolic emergencies

7. IV, injection and procedure emergencies

8. Putting it together — scenario walkthroughs

9. Final knowledge check

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Module 7 is the one you will not find anywhere else. It is organized by certification schedule and covers telling an infusion reaction from anaphylaxis, air embolism during IV and ozone therapy, hypocalcaemia and tetany during chelation, local anaesthetic systemic toxicity, filler vascular occlusion and hyaluronidase rescue, and pneumothorax after thoracic needling. Read the sections your own certifications cover — and the ones they don't, because certifications change.

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Sixty-two quiz items run through the modules, and a thirty-item knowledge check closes the online portion: ninety-two in all. Attempts are unlimited, and every answer explains its reasoning.

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Part two — the in-person day

Scenarios, not lectures. You work through simulated emergencies with patients who talk back and do not volunteer what is wrong, using your own algorithm deck and a real kit. Skills covered include BLS and AED, bag-valve-mask ventilation, oxygen delivery, IM and IV drug administration within your scope, team leadership under the delegation rule, and handover to paramedics.

You bring a completed preparedness audit for your own clinic, and the day works from your real gaps rather than hypothetical ones.

In-class breakdown — 9:00am to 3:45pm (6 hours) 

 

9:00 – 12:00
- Fundamentals of emergency care
- The systematic approach to emergencies
- Vital signs in the emergency
- The NALS emergency kit — what the College expects you to hold
- Common medical emergencies 

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12:00 – 12:30 — Lunch

 

12:30 – end of day
- Common medical emergencies, continued
- Scenarios

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Throughout the day you reinforce concepts, practise skills, and receive coaching and correction.

BLS. BLS certification can be included if you need it, provided you complete the online BLS portion before the course. The BLS certification fee is not included in the NALS course fee — $15 extra.

Certification and recertification

Your NALS certification is valid for two years. The College requires you to hold a current qualification in NALS and to renew each certification annually — so the two-year card must be in date at every annual renewal that falls within it. Recertify with us every two years and it always is.
 

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