ACLS Certification

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Hello,

I work on a busy hospital med/surg floor with-out telemetry (all other floors have). They are now turning our floor to a monitored floor in a few months and we all now have to take ACLS classes. The problem is, most of us can't read strips, let alone understand the complexity of irregular rhythms. Seems like this could be dangerous for the patients if you don't have experienced RN's that know what they are reading. We have ICU, IMC, PCU x2, surgical and OB's. Just reviewing "the basics" is hard enough to grasp, let alone this other material we have to learn. Can anyone give me some advice on the best way to learn this (a way that it's really broken down easily to learn)? Thanks :)

According to Einthoven, the Dutch guy who invented it, it's a "K". The German translation is Elektro-kardiographie, the Greek is kardio. It was not invented here in America.

Also, for safety purposes so it is not confused with EEG or some other random imaging exam or diagnosis that has a similar pronunciation.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.
Also, for safety purposes so it is not confused with EEG or some other random imaging exam or diagnosis that has a similar pronunciation.

Thanx for the backup! Great minds think alike!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

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Specializes in Float Pool - A Little Bit of Everything.

Most of my hospitals have required people who are new to ACLS to take basic cardiac rhythm classes, which helped to prepare you for the coursework in ACLS. I carry ACLS, PALS, & TNCC and I definitely don't think I would have been able to do any without a basic understanding of heart functions & strips. Perhaps see if your hospital offers the same. I also asked a paramedic turned RN that I went through my ADN with for some help with concepts I had trouble with.

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Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.
Get Dubins EKG book. Can't go wrong!
I think Dubin's book is lame.

I much prefer the ones by Tomas Garcia and Malcolm Thaler.

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Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.

The place to start is with the emergent:

Ventricular tachycardia (VT, Vtach)

Ventricular fibrillation (VF, Vfib)

3rd degree block

Superventricular tachycardia (SVT)

Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response (Afib w/ RVR)

Don't get too hung up in all the details. Be able to spot these and know the treatments and you'll cover >95% of the cases.

And recognize that the monitors have pretty good algorithms to spot the lethal rhythms.

If the rate is greater than 50 and less than 110, it's not likely to be an emergency.

Start with Thaler's book and go from there.

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Specializes in Unit Nurse.

Some facilities offer a rhythm interpretation class. Check with your facility to see if it does.

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According to Einthoven, the Dutch guy who invented it, it's a "K". The German translation is Elektro-kardiographie, the Greek is kardio. It was not invented here in America.

The language nerd in me thanks you for this tidbit! (I always wondered)

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Specializes in Work Comp CM 3 yrs & Cardiac PCU 27 yrs.
Free ECG Simulator! - SkillSTAT

A great place to start

Yes!!! excellent site. Also, the ACLs book they give you will have a web site you login and it will go over Stroke, Pharmacology and all the rhythms you will need to know. You will also take a quiz/test which will help you see where your weaknesses are. :)

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Specializes in ICU, CVICU, E.R..

There are only a few lethal cardiac rythms to be aware of and you can bunch them up as to which ACLS algorithm to use.

There are several YouTube videos to make things easier to understand.

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Specializes in PACU, presurgical testing.

I enjoy using SkillStat to refresh. However, I took an actual class in basic dysrhythmias in nursing school (extra offering from one of our professors), and that helped immensely to get me started with what was totally new material. You should see if your hospital offers a basic dysrhythmia class and take that first.

As I've renewed ACLS and PALS over the years, I have had to take an online pretest from the American Heart Association that included rhythm strip interpretation along with meds and scenarios. You can't even take the refresher without passing the pretest, so it's not something you'll learn once and then set aside! You want to just practice them over and over again so you don't have to stop and think too long. You should know VF, VT, SVT, brady, Afib, and Aflutter with one look at the monitor. And don't forget that even if it LOOKS like NSR, you MUST check a central pulse to eliminate PEA.

I found that rhythms made more sense in context (i.e., on a real monitor in my PACU) than in a book, but they have a lot of variability. Even on SkillStat, they only have so many strips to show you, so you want to look at actual strips. I print out and save the interesting ones to share with our ACLS instructor!

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Go and take an in person Basic Dysrhythmia Class. It's a wonderful teaching tool. The person who I took it from had been a cardiac PCU nurse, as well as a transplant coordinator. I knew very little going into the class. Once the 16 hours were done, I felt like I could read just about anything! We learned so much from her.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
According to Merriam-Webster, it is one with C:

Electrocardiogram | Definition of Electrocardiogram by Merriam-Webster

Ekg | Definition of Ekg by Merriam-Webster - links the abbreviation to the "electrocardiogram"

One of our professors, a true and dedicated APA nazi, tried to take off points for the "K". Eventually, she did not come to that amidst the chorus of students' complains, but she had her point.

I see the professor's pedantry has rubbed off.

Go spend your energy on something fruitful like correcting those who pronounce centimeters as "saunameters."

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