ACLS While in School?

hypnotic_nurse · Dec 15, 2004

I have taken both ACLS and PALS. It was not a particular problem to do both and my employer at the time paid the class fee. PALS was the more difficult of the two.

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Dec 15, 2004

We were told (here in Fl) that we are welcome to take the ACLS class but that you need to have a license in order to be certified. Basically they said that if you take it as a student, you'll have to retake it after getting your RN license because it is invalid until you are a licensed medical professional.

NYCRN16 · Dec 15, 2004

What is more important to the hospitals when they are hiring you as a new grad is that you are BLS certified in peds and adults. I did not take ACLS until I graduated May of 2003 and started working ER in July, and I didnt take ACLS until Nov because my nurse educator said that it will "make more sense" to you once you have seen many codes and what goes on. At first I was like "what the hell", but once I took the class I was better prepared for it because I have seen them happen quite a few times and it did make more sense to me. I just took PALS a few months ago, and I thought this was easier than ACLS, but I dont know if its just because I had more experience when I took it, or because the situations of a pediatric code are much different than adult codes. Before I had ACLS, when I was involved in a code, I had other roles besides pushing meds that I was able to do without being certified which you can do also are things like passing the meds to someone to give, documenting what time and what was given, doing chest compressions, bagging, and other things besides actually pushing the meds and defibrillating.

You must have an understanding of EKG rhythms and how to interpret them in order to understand ACLS. In nursing school from what I remember, they briefly go over some of them, but they do not spend much time on them at all. If you get hired in a critical care area in a hospital after graduation, more than likely they will put you through a critical care course which will have a main segment of EKG interpretation, and you will get your training from there.

If you are working in an adult setting after graduation, there is no reason to take PALS, because it wont help you. If you are working somewhere like L+D, usually they have you take ACLS and neonatal resusciatation rather than PALS.

Another thing is that ACLS is expensive to pay for on your own, and since your employer will pay for it, why not wait for them to do it instead of paying $300 to take in yourself when the hospitals dont expect you to have it as a new grad anyway? If you want to take a course to get a head start, see if the hospital that you are doing clinicals at has any CE classes that you can take. A few students and I took a critical care medication class at the hospital I did clinicials at, and it was very helpful. It ran all day from 8 am to 2 pm, and it was a great review for boards, as well as learning in greater detail the common meds that they use in ER and ICU, and about the drips that you dont get to learn too much about in school.

Good luck to all the students out there, and looking foward to seeing you in the workforce soon! :)

purplemania, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2004

our hospital requires ACLS for all nurses (or PALS, NALS). New grads or new hires without certification are required to have dysrhythmia classes then ACLS. This means they must be off the floor for several days to accomplish everything. The course is stressful to new grads who are trying to learn a million other things at the same time. I would recommend taking the course, but I will also tell you that some of it will not make sense the first time around. Like CPR, you have to practice a little, or observe a little, before it comes together.