advice on what to study to refresh myself? acls?

In my experience, there has never been a reason for a m/s nurse nurse to have ACLS, b/c they are have never been permitted to do anything beyond BLS at any facility I've ever worked for. We have always had code teams that arrive and totally take over. We (the code team) don't even let them stay in the room mostly, which is fine b/c they probably have a half dozen other patients to take care of and are happy to get rid of one, lol. So unless you are looking for a unit or ED position, I don't see the point in boning up on drugs and procedures you aren't going to use. I'd just study the general pharmocokinetics and dynamics of classes of drugs so you know how why they do what they do, and what to anticipate for patients.

In my experience, there has never been a reason for a m/s nurse nurse to have ACLS, b/c they are have never been permitted to do anything beyond BLS at any facility I've ever worked for. We have always had code teams that arrive and totally take over. We (the code team) don't even let them stay in the room mostly, which is fine b/c they probably have a half dozen other patients to take care of and are happy to get rid of one, lol. So unless you are looking for a unit or ED position, I don't see the point in boning up on drugs and procedures you aren't going to use. I'd just study the general pharmocokinetics and dynamics of classes of drugs so you know how why they do what they do, and what to anticipate for patients.

Phew and Lol. So True about happy to get out of the room during a code to take care of other pts or pee or chart. Yeah, the ACLS idea was a little moment of insanity. So not ready to do that yet. Good idea about the classes of drugs etc. I will start on that and dosage calculations and procedures I know I will be using. Like iv and cath eeeekkkk. I forgot..

. And I am sure I will be getting whatever job I can get so I am sure it will be med surg or something similar. I am a little scared of those tests facilities give at the beginning of job... I think I will post a question about that. How embarrassing would it be to fail that during new hire process.

A health assessment and physical examination course is a good way to refresh skills.

dishes

I always thought ACLS was fun. Most posters on here seem to view the opposite.

A health assessment and physical examination course is a good way to refresh skills.

dishes

Hhhhmmmm. Where and what exactly is this? Sounds like something I would be interested in. Online? Thanks.

I mean obviously, I know what health assessment and physical examination is but I am wondering if such a course exists outside of nursing school...Thanks. I will google it now.

The courses are available online, here is a link to one online course outline http://www2.athabascau.ca/syllabi/nurs/nurs326.php

dishes

I don't understand why you don't want to do a nurse refresher course. Seems like a good idea to me. :)

jrowmom, if you are interested in independent review on health assessment and physical examination, check out the links in this thread https://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/health-assessment-resources-145091.html

dishes

I'll check it out. I recently went to book store and got "portable Rn" which has a little on everything and really practicle things like oooooh I forgot about that and it is something really simple. Uggg so hard to clear cobwebs out aftertwo years of not studying anything except TV. Just like working out. I will consider this course and still considering refresher course, all least i would be forced to learn it.

Some places will give you a refresher course as part of being hired, if you've been out of the biz for awhile. They might also give you a tremendous orientation that includes a bigggg book with everything you're expected to know in it, and lots of weeks as a rookie before you're cut loose to work on your own. I think it depends on where you work.

Maybe consider that you're going back to being a rookie. So, you'd be expected to know things a rookie knows. Do you still have med/surg texts? How about past clinical course work? How about a review course you might have taken before doing your licensure exam?