L&D nurses and ACLS training

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How many of you L&D nurses who have been traveling for a while are ACLS certified? At my current hospital, this is not a requirement so I haven't done it but I am contemplating starting traveling soon and am worried that there will be hospitals out there wanting me to have that certification. Do I need to get it on my own now or is this something that they will train me on if they require it? Also--how much experience did you have in L&D before you started traveling? I'm curious what seems like a good time frame for this specialty.

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How many of you L&D nurses who have been traveling for a while are ACLS certified? At my current hospital, this is not a requirement so I haven't done it but I am contemplating starting traveling soon and am worried that there will be hospitals out there wanting me to have that certification. Do I need to get it on my own now or is this something that they will train me on if they require it? Also--how much experience did you have in L&D before you started traveling? I'm curious what seems like a good time frame for this specialty.

It is required for my job (althought I'm not an L&D nurse). I take it on my own and my agency pays for it. Its about 200 dollars. I don't have it handy but I can give you a site that has a list of ACLS classes. Also, your hospital may have classes. EMS and firestation often give classes.

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All of the specialty positions, including med/surg Travel positions, have requeired it. I am about to get PALS even though I do my best to avoid Peds.

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All of the specialty positions, including med/surg Travel positions, have requeired it. I am about to get PALS even though I do my best to avoid Peds.

ACLS is good to have no matter what your specialty in the hospital. I've never had PALS a requirement even though it was required for staff nurses at my last assignment. I will not volunteer to take PALS.

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I have traveled for 3yrs as a L&D nurse and the ACLS is something all my assignments required. I think because there was the potential for recovering C/S patients. I had taken it with my home hospital before I started traveling and found this much easier. It has not always been easy to find a place to renew my BLS, ACLS and NRP. Good luck with your travels.

I had been doing L&D, Mother/Baby and nursery for 7yrs before I started traveling.

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I am not ACLS certified, it was never required by my employer although I always wanted to take it. I quit that employer and relocated to Arizona through a travel assignment. I am not about to start another position and hopefully can take it as I plan on hopefully in the near future relocating to Chula Vista, California. Anything that will help me I will take. I use to be PALS certified but in OB it did me no good. I let it lapse and am sorry now.

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Specializes in L&D/MB/LDRP.

Hi there,

I did L&D 2 years before my 1st travel assignment. I rec'd my ACLS cert while still at my home hospital so I wouldn't have to pay for it (wasn't req to have it but free class for employees). You may want to check into that b/c it can be expensive to take on your own & you may have to take a pre course before hand (Basic Dysrhythmias). Also, not all travel assignments req you to have ACLS but most do. They are trying to formulate an ACLS curriculum exp for L&D. Let's see how that goes.

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