Rid and Veneficus-
I asked this once before and didn't get a responce, so here goes again. While paramedic education is lacking in this country, how much of ACLS being dumbed down into the crap that it is now is JCAHO responsible for? I experienced the same thing in the last class that I took that Veneficus alluded to; people who will never, EVER need the skills and knowledge taught in ACLS being REQUIRED to take the class because of JCAHO statutes. As well, many of these people don't have the background to pick up the course content in a whopping 16 hours. Have to wonder: with the course being required for so many people (that it shouldn't be required for) was the content dumbed down just to ensure a good passing rate so that it would remain the standard?
I can only answer your question with my opinion as I have no knowledge of JCAHO's inner workings or if they have any relationship to AHA, but here goes.
All providers should be trained to provide a basic response in an emergency. In most medical facilities there is equipment on hand. (code carts, manual defibs, etc) If you do not use AHA somebody has to come up with an entrely new course and go through the steps to have it nationally accedited. (You can bet anyone doing that will make money off of it, so that is a moot issue)
If you took an ACLS or similar course between 2000 and 2005 it was a change from earlier (tougher) standards. There was hope that making it less stressful and team oriented providers would have more success. That turned out to be wrong. People became too lax and were not regularly performing to standards on actual patients. The current course is set up to drill the basics into providers. Psychologists call it classical conditioning. (Pavlov would be proud) I expect in the 2010 guidlines, if not before, there will be another shift towards theory. The EP course adds a little for the people who routinely use these skills or are involved in emergency or critical care regularly. But it assumes you already know the science and medicine so you can be an active participant in the discussions.
I would guess JCAHO required AHA out of convenience. I do not think AHA "dumbed down" the course for JCAHO.