ACLS

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Hello my fellow nurses,

I am looking into getting my ACLS certification. I found a option for taking it online with ACLS Certification Institute. Just wondering if any of you out there have heard about it and what your thought are.

Thanks!!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Is this your first ACLS certification ever? If so, it is my personal opinion that your first ACLS certification needs to be obtained in a live class with a real instructor to guide you.

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I also got my ACLS online with ACLS Certification & Recertification | ACLS Provider & Online Course. Mine was a first time certification as well. It worked out really well. I heard about it because the nurses at my clinic all do their ACLS renewal with the ACLS Certification Institute every few years. Anyways, good luck with it, it's pretty straight-forward and nice to be able to do it online.

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Check your local hospitals (if you're not employed at a hospital) for classes. I would definitely take your initial ACLS certification live, not online, because you need to get the feel for how a code is ran. It really can't be taught online.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I completely agree, you should take at least your initial ACLS course with a live instructor. You should also go to class with at least a working knowledge of basic EKG rhythms. They're not difficult to learn, if you haven't already learned them, and pretty much everything depends upon recognizing them. Remember, when it's time for you to apply what you will have learned, it's going to be you running the code. Running the megacode is just different and has a particular rhythm to it, and that can not be learned online. It's a psychomotor thing. The other thing I would suggest is you should make sure that your hospital/unit accepts the ACLS course you are taking. It really is hard to fail ACLS without trying. It's not that it's easy, just they want you to learn.

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Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I also got my ACLS online with ACLS Certification & Recertification | ACLS Provider & Online Course. Mine was a first time certification as well. It worked out really well. I heard about it because the nurses at my clinic all do their ACLS renewal with the ACLS Certification Institute every few years. Anyways, good luck with it, it's pretty straight-forward and nice to be able to do it online.

When you got your certification card, did it include the AHA logo and "American Heart Association," along with the words "This card certifies that the above individuals has successfully completed the cognitive and skills evaluations in accordance with the curriculum of the AHA ACLS program"?

If it doesn't and your facility still accepted it, that's fine. However, some facilities will accept only the AHA certification, which, I believe, requires a skills certification in person.

I needed and wanted the skills certification. It really does help in code situations.

The site you linked to keeps using "approved by AHA doctors" and such in the verbiage. That does not necessarily mean that the online class provides one AHA ACLS certification. I also noticed that the online class is $275. Wow.

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

Check with the hospitals where you wish to work. Many will not accept an online ACLS certification that does not have a hand-on component.

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