Prerequisites for ACLS?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi I am a new grad nurse seeking employment in an ICU. As such, I thought it would be in my best interest to get ACLS certified, both to get it out of the way and to make myself eligible to apply to more places (and more marketable too). I am seeing that there are ACLS classes in my area that I can take however there is no mention of any prerequisite courses that you need to take in order to take the ACLS. Are there really no prereqs besides BLS/CPR? If there are, what are they? Someone mentioned a arrhythmia class???

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

CPR is the only pre-req. ACLS is just a class, not a certification like CCRN is.

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Specializes in NICU.

I took it during spring break. You need to complete the online modules (access code is in the book) before the class starts.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Care.

It's also beneficial to have a good grasp of rhythm recognition as they are not taught in acls.

PJ, RN, EMT-P

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
It's also beneficial to have a good grasp of rhythm recognition as they are not taught in acls.

PJ, RN, EMT-P

I pretty much second this! You really do need to have a good grasp of rhythm recognition before you go into ACLS because it really isn't taught in the course. ACLS isn't hard... as long as you know the rhythms, especially ones that are lethal.

As far as actual prerequisites go, you need to have a professional rescuer level CPR card and a pulse of your own...

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