AHA BLS or RC CPR?

[Gaby_rmz77]

Which certification is more recommendable for a nursing program?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

My school and hospitals only accept AHA

[elkpark]

Ask your school (or whatever schools you're interested in, if you're not already accepted). As Don1984 notes, some schools, like many healthcare employers, require one or the other and won't accept substitutes. Is this something that you know is required, or are you just trying to make yourself a more appealing candidate? Lots of nursing programs have CPR built into the nursing curriculum and there's no particular advantage to taking it on your own first. I wouldn't pay for a course out of pocket unless I knew I had to.

[CowboyMedic, DNP, APRN, CRNA]

American Heart Association has become the standard for hospital and prehospital care.

AHA BLS, ACLS, and PALS (if you work in a pediatric unit, NICU, or ER)

I had to have all three before I was through with Paramedic school to work on the truck. The transition to ER was easy because of it.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Personally, I would go with the AHA CPR cert if only for the reason that it's usually more often accepted than anything else. If something else is accepted, it's going to have to be an equivalent course to the AHA version. I've had ACLS and PALS, both AHA courses. While I have yet to renew my PALS, I recently renewed my ACLS cert and it's a whole lot easier than it was when I first took the course. I had to have BLS, ACLS, PALS, and PHTLS before I could go do my internship on the truck, once upon a time...

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

AHA BLS is the way to go in most cases. I'd wait till you were almost done with nursing school to consider ACLS and PALS because they're kind of useless for techs unless you're a paramedic. Plus a lot of instructors prefer you to have some knowledge behind you.

[kenya1005]

My hospital only accepts AHA, plus it's a 2-year certification. I *think* Red Cross is only one year, but I could be wrong.