Acls

[RN92]

I just renewed my acls. The first time I took the class, we were told that in the event of an emergency where there wasnt an md present - we could run the code until an md was available. I work in a large hospital thats attatched to a huge clinic. (I worked in the ER). We responded to all codes in the clinic and ground floor. This time, when I had my acls renewed - the instructor said that just because we were certified, it didnt mean that we could run it. But, we have to take the "portable/mini" crashcart - what good is it if we cant use it.? (Start giving medications,defibrillate, etc.) Is this policy different with each employer ? Whats the point in getting acls, if you cant use the information to treat pts?

[hypnotic_nurse]

All I know is that we were told if there's no MD present, we are to call 911 (we are associated with -- but not part of -- a university hospital).

So we have a crash cart but our only MD is part time. Luckily we don't see any fragile people; we're more likely to have to respond to someone collapsing in our parking lot on the way to the ER down the street (it's happened!).

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

Strange. We (ACLS cert) still run the code if no doc available (or until doc is available) and the regular crash cart is still brought to the scene.