Maybe I get get some advice here re:PALS/Pears...

[coolatta19]

Hello all!

I originally posted this on the Peds board,but no replies so far...any advice from the Med/Surg forum would be helpful. I have to decide soon on which course dates to enroll & pay for..thank you to all!

I'm a recent nurse graduate, hoping to eventually find a job working on a peds floor. I have 6 years of medical experience, but it's been in the Infertility dept...I want to somehow make my resume standout...considering enrolling in a PALS & PEARS course, but would like to know if the info will be redundant or beneficial to take both courses. Any info, advice will be greatly appreciated.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

PEARS is mostly for individuals who do not work with children all the time, like in same day surgery. You do not have the competencies as in PALS. Most, if not all, Pedi floors require PALS.

I don't know if it would make your resume stand out or not. Would not at my facility as we would not assume someone who has not worked in that dept to have PALS.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

Most employers are requiring PALS for ICU's or ER's that see pediatric patients. Acute care floors that see peds can accept either. As an acute care peds nurse, I recommend PALS. PALS is an certification you can put on a resume, and I felt like it helped a lot for learning what to do in a code situation.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I work in a children's hospital and we don't send all of our general care staff to PALS. We use PEARS. We feel that the new staff members don't have enough experience for PALS -- and wouldn't be actually running a code should they encounter one. They would start CPR and call a code: a member of the Code Team would actually run the code -- and that's what PALS trains you to do.

We stress PEARS as it teaches staff members to be alert for early warning signs that a patient's condition is deteriorating and appropriate measures to take to avoid the full code in the first place. Also, it's content is more easily grasped by beginners.