[bigreddog1934]

hi - i am a new grad, been working in the er for about three months now. i am wondering what kind of time should be allowed before getting one's acls certification. my nurse manager says to the new grads ther that we have too many technical skills to master and that the certification should be done later than sooner. one new grad has been working for 8 months without either acls or pals.

we are a busy er with over 52,000 patients last year with many codes. i am wanting to get in sooner than later. whats the average wait?

[Larry77]

In my department ACLS and BLS are required to apply and PALS, TNCC, and ENPC are required within the first year of employment.

[evilnightwitch]

If you are nor at least ACLS certified you better not be transporting monitored patients to the floor once they are admitted. I am sure you wouldn't have the first clue what to do if you patient coded enroute to the floor. Scarey I know but it could happen. I cannot beleive your manager is encouraging this, first ACLS, PALS, TNCC and others.

[MAISY, RN-ER]

We had six months to get certified, but classes were offered on site in our hospital. If I remember correctly, I had certification in the first 3 months.

You should definately not be transporting someone who is monitored, on any drips, or critical to icu, ccu, tele, or anywhere else! Without certification it is a liability for both you and the hospital.

Good luck on your new position.
Maisy

[anc33]

I have never done emergency or critical care nursing but I was required to obtain my ACLS certification for my job. Yes, you have a lot of skills to learn but studying for the course should not interfere with your job progression. I studied the course literature for about a week and did fine. I am sure that you have a good heads up on the material since you are actually working with critical patients. I would get it sooner than later. The info will end up helping your practice now. Why wait?

[raemon]

ours is just a six days of training conducted by red cross....

[raemon]

is your acls training needs to be renewed time by time?

[ebear]

I don't understand the reasons that your NM is giving you to wait. Wait for what??? That is a basic "technical skill"????

[bigreddog1934]

yes, i am not totally convinced by the idea that we should "get through our initial learning curve". i am excited to get more education and, even if i am not running a code, having the certification helps to navigate all the steps through one.

i guess there's also the chance that some backup in hospital classes is preventing our admissions but nothing like that has ever been mentioned.

thanks a lot for all the responses.

[ERRNTraveler]

Originally Posted by raemon23

is your acls training needs to be renewed time by time?

ACLS, PALS, & BLS need to be renewed every 2 years. TNCC is renewed every 4 years.