ACLS?

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hello,

SO ? about me . I am a Registered Nurse, Graduated Dec 2014 from Macewan University, in Edmonton Canada. I passed my NCLEX - YAHOO, so im A BScN , RN. I took my emergency nurse peds course (ENPC), i took my Trauma nurse core course ( TNCC).

Now my question. I am working in the ER as I am a new staff member / recent grad, im working in the non telemetry areas. I want to take ACLS as it will help get me into the monitored areas ( apparently once i have been there a year is what staff is saying).

Should I take ACLS now ? do i know enough ? I feel very green in the cardiac world. I have heard how hard this is ? The cost is $500 canadian, so im scared to take it and fail?

Any advice ? when did u take it ? how can i prep if i do ?

Jessica

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Specializes in Emergency, LTC.

I would wait until 1 year experience. To sit for the CEN exam you need 2yrs specialty in your area and as you become more seasoned, things will make more sense. A lot of certification exams require you be a nurse in your specialty for a certain period of time. I would just focus on learning for now.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery.

With working in the ER, even on the non telemetry side, they dont require you to get your ACLS? Everytime I look at out internal positions and see an ER opening, it always says ACLS required, also with TNCC and PALS required within two years. But I also work in a level 1 trauma hospital.

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Specializes in ICU.

Agree with the PP - I'm surprised your ER doesn't require it. I've never heard of an ER not requiring ACLS for its employees.

Ask around! Maybe they do offer it and you just haven't been around long enough for a session to open up.

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Specializes in Palliative Care.

I'm surprised it wasn't required for your job in the ED. I took it straight out of nursing school so I could beef up my resume a bit in a difficult job market. It wasn't easy, but I got through it just fine. I would definitely take it in your case - it will give you good training in rhythms and what a code looks like in progress.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.

The ER at my hospital requires ACLS within one year.

the course is wicked hard, but I think you could reasonably expect to pass if you took it now. However, I think you will learn SO SO much more if you wait and take it after you get more experience on the floor. My first job out of nursing school required ACLS so I took it in my last semester of school, and I still felt pretty lost after the course, even though i passed. It all made SO MUCH MORE SENSE when I recertified 2 years later.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Is ACLS different in Canada vs US? I am a new nurse on an ICU floor and just took ACLS last week. It was not that difficult. Everybody passes. Everything on the written test was reviewed in class, and we practiced the megacode multiple times before testing out. Getting through the megacode involved studying the little pamphlets provided in the ACLS book. I heard that ACLS used to be harder. I think in the past you had to be able to differentiate between every single rhythm out there, but that's not how it is anymore... It's been simplified.

Get an ACLS book, review the 10 cases in it, go to the website and type in the code provided to get access to online studying material, and you will be fine, especially if you can do well on the pre-assessment. Worst case scenario you get a remediation opportunity and can re-take the test.

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hello,

Yes we are a level 1 trauma center. its not required until u officially get to monitors. no one really has PALS, we rarely do peds as there is a level one center across the river from us.

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Hi Everyone !

Thank you for your input. I have registered in ACLS at the end of Oct. I am nervous but we will see. the jury is out at my work if its to early or not. I guess ill take my chances and work hard. I guess if i passed TNCC and ENPC I should be ok.

whew ! decisions .

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ACLS wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I'm so glad I now have it.

I work in an Emergency department in Alberta where ACLS wasn't 'required' but we were 'encouraged' to have it. From what I was told, if it was 'required', then AHS would have to pay for all of us to have it and to get recertified every two years. So because they excluded the words 'required, mandatory, essential, etc.' we have to pay for it, not AHS.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.
ACLS wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I'm so glad I now have it.

I work in an Emergency department in Alberta where ACLS wasn't 'required' but we were 'encouraged' to have it. From what I was told, if it was 'required', then AHS would have to pay for all of us to have it and to get recertified every two years. So because they excluded the words 'required, mandatory, essential, etc.' we have to pay for it, not AHS.

That's really interesting. I never realized it wasn't required for ER jobs in Canada. It's been required within X months of hire for every RN job I've had, and the employers always pay for it. I'd be a really unhappy camper if they started making us do it out of pocket...

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I don't know about all of Canada, or even all of Alberta. I think it totally should be mandatory. That is just what I was told when I started working in Emerg.

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