Help! Acls Class

Nurses General Nursing

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Help. I have been a nurse for 16 months on a medsurg floor at a small hospital. We have everything from new moms to chestpain, etc. We all have to get acls certified this year. I signed up to take a class and now some of the icu nurses tell me there is no way I can pass the class without having a monitoring class first. We watch telemetry monitors at our front desk and while I can recognize basics I have no formal training on telemetry.

I went to the DON and asked her if I should have a monitoring class first and she said no you will do fine, and basically said your going next week.

I received the pre test in the mail and I have a copy of the ACLS Manual.

What do you think?

melissa

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

You do have to recognize v. tach, v. fib, svt, heart blocks all of them, brady cardia, tachycardia, so yeah you do need to know basic ekg.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

hello, mandrews,

i agree with your don. i think you will do just fine.

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Specializes in ICU, Surgery.

http://www.randylarson.com/acls/start.html

Someone posted this link in another topic. I found it very helpful

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I attended ACLS as a med/surg nurse, almost didn't d/t being so scared of failing, and passed. Study the book's questions and any practice test you are given. The practical portion was very user friendly, almost informal, except for one physician who led one of the stations. Where I took ACLS, it was geared to allow everyone to pass. A real mix in the class--critical nurses, med/surg, OB, Docs (even two podiatrists). Don't worry, I suspect all will be fine. I still am HORRIBLE with rythyms.

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I just recertified for ACLS. You do need a basic understanding of EKGs but I have never had an EKG class, I don't deal with EKGs or telemetry on a daily basis but I still passed the test without any problems. The instructors I have had have all been very good and covered everything we needed to know to pass the course. Don't stress over the EKG strips. If your ACLS instructors are doing their job, you will have a decent understanding of the EKGs by the end of the course.

Let us know how it goes.

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http://www.randylarson.com/acls/start.html

Someone posted this link in another topic. I found it very helpful

I can't thank you enough. This is such a wonderful learning site.

Thank you everyone for the great information.

melissa

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I have taken ACLS since I was a nursing student with absolutely NO EKG monitoring under my belt. The rhythms I saw were easy to recognize.

One of my tricks was I learned from Paramedics/EMTs! They have the greatest and sometimes very funny ways of remembering EKG's! Just remember your sinus rhythm first off...know the parts of sinus rhythm...then if you see something that isn't right...hey, now it gets more interesting! Think of it that way!

My hubby always reminds me of this...when looking at EKG's...is it normal? Is it fast? Is it slow? What part looks odd? That has gotten me further than I thought! After that I need some guidance...

And heck...they will teach and show you the rhythms you need to know for testing. It is the meds that get me goofed up! LOL! (I just learned the newer meds this year...last time I took ACLS the meds were different! LOL).

If you have a chance to take ACLS in a paramedic/EMTs company...like I did...I would soooooo do it! It was hillarious fun, learned a ton, never felt test anxiety, and really got some great hands on and stories! It was worth my own dime for that training!

Good luck, I am sure you will do just fine :)

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I have taken ACLS since I was a nursing student with absolutely NO EKG monitoring under my belt. The rhythms I saw were easy to recognize.

One of my tricks was I learned from Paramedics/EMTs! They have the greatest and sometimes very funny ways of remembering EKG's! Just remember your sinus rhythm first off...know the parts of sinus rhythm...then if you see something that isn't right...hey, now it gets more interesting! Think of it that way!

My hubby always reminds me of this...when looking at EKG's...is it normal? Is it fast? Is it slow? What part looks odd? That has gotten me further than I thought! After that I need some guidance...

And heck...they will teach and show you the rhythms you need to know for testing. It is the meds that get me goofed up! LOL! (I just learned the newer meds this year...last time I took ACLS the meds were different! LOL).

If you have a chance to take ACLS in a paramedic/EMTs company...like I did...I would soooooo do it! It was hillarious fun, learned a ton, never felt test anxiety, and really got some great hands on and stories! It was worth my own dime for that training!

Good luck, I am sure you will do just fine :)

Thank you for the information. My class starts tomorrow at 0735. It is almost a 2 hour drive so I got a room at a hotel the hospital runs for a very cheap price for tomorrow night.

I guess what worrys me is passing the test where you have to be in charge of a code. Of course there are those that always have to tell you the horror storys they have heard. (personnally I had rather not hear it)

melissa

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Well I passed my acls class and boy was it hard. I was the only med-surg nurse and everyone else was icu, micu, nicu, etc.

When I did my check off they based the senerio on someone coding on the floor. I still had to take the leadership role and tell the team what meds to push, etc.

Anyone taking this for the first time should get their book in advance and study the meds, rhythm strips. and read the practice senerios. When you tell the team to push a med you have to give a dosage, tell how it comes, and the max dosages.

melissa

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Well I passed my acls class and boy was it hard. I was the only med-surg nurse and everyone else was icu, micu, nicu, etc.

When I did my check off they based the senerio on someone coding on the floor. I still had to take the leadership role and tell the team what meds to push, etc.

Anyone taking this for the first time should get their book in advance and study the meds, rhythm strips. and read the practice senerios. When you tell the team to push a med you have to give a dosage, tell how it comes, and the max dosages.

melissa

Yep, tough class. I took ACLS as an EMT-B just for the knowledge base. I had to convince the instructor to let me in first, but she knows me and said OK. I studied the book and know what a normal sinus rhythm looks like. The instructor made me lead the scenario (he's a local medic and knew I was "only" an EMT-B). I passed with flying colors. One thing though, I did notice how shaky some of the "experienced" nurses were in scenarios and discussion. Goes to show you never know.....

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Well I passed my acls class and boy was it hard. I was the only med-surg nurse and everyone else was icu, micu, nicu, etc.

When I did my check off they based the senerio on someone coding on the floor. I still had to take the leadership role and tell the team what meds to push, etc.

Anyone taking this for the first time should get their book in advance and study the meds, rhythm strips. and read the practice senerios. When you tell the team to push a med you have to give a dosage, tell how it comes, and the max dosages.

melissa

That is horrible. My class WAS NOT like that at all. Now I'm paranoid about renewal (moved across the country).:uhoh3:

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