APLS (advance pediatric life support)

eb_rn · Aug 29, 2004

I have has PALS--pediatric advanced life support, guess its the same thing...really liked it. The first class was 2 days long...8 hour days. We went over information on first line drugs to give if a kid is coding....we also went over tubing a kid. And there is a test at the end, but we all passed...like CPR, everyone passes, some require a little more help than others. There were interns and nurses in the class. Everyone was very helpful. The renewal of PALS was only 1 day, 8 hours and again there were nurses, interns, residents, and attending md's there. This class mostly focuses running a code with the docs, but everyone participated, asked questions, did mock codes, etc. I really learned a lot.

vaughanmk · Sep 3, 2004

I am also getting ready to take it. I have been told by fellow Rn's at my hospital that it is tough here. They say to really read the book before you come to class.

shellasee · Sep 10, 2004

The class has gotten tougher this past year with some new reccomendations. It's a great class, especially since ours focused on shock and trauma. When I reupped 2 years ago I wasn't real happy because it dealt more with pre hospital scenarios, but I've taken it every 2 years for 10 years now and always learn something new. This year I retook the full 2 day course for refresher. We didn't have to read the whole book, but definitely took good notes during the lectures and keep the book in several places on the unit.

Monica RN,BSN · Sep 10, 2004

Yes it is known as PALS. It is a fun class, though it has been many years since I have done it. Now I do ACLS because it includes all ages, not just Peds.

Good Luck

UK2USA · Sep 23, 2004

There is a separate course from PALS, called APLS. It is especially common in the UK and takes PALS further. For example, the course run at the London hospital where I used to work, gave the student practice in intubation, chest tube placement and IO needle insertion. These skills were practical and performed either on mannequins or on sheep/pig carcasses. The emphasis is on the ability of the nurse to run a code, not just follow orders... and my final assessment involved me directing 3 assessors in a mock code, in real time with real equipment and some nasty tricks (faulty equipment, staff attitudes, secondary problems etc).

The cost in the UK is about $800 - $900, for 4 days.... compared to the PALS course which costs $500 for 3 days.

In my experience, more people are taking APLS in the UK than are taking PALS. I have been told that APLS is more respected... I don't know if that is true, I have both and now that I am in the USA I find that APLS is not recognised nearly so widely as PALS.