Med/Surg RN. Want ICU job. Get ACLS?

[Spine_CRNA]

Hi,

I'm a Med/Surg Nurse of just over two years and I want to get into an ICU, but it's very difficult for me! Most if not all ICU openings I see require ACLS cert, so I'm thinking of getting it to make the job hunt easier.

~Based on my research it doesn't look like there's any requirements to obtain ACLS other than being a practicing RN, but I want to verify with you folks. Can I get ACLS cert even though I'm working M/S?

~What specifics should I know before beginning ACLS? The description says just basic knowledge of cardiac rhythms and resuscitation pharmacology.

~M/S RN's who moved to ICU, how did you do it? What qualified you? Etc.

~What other thoughts do you have about this topic?

Thanks in advance!

[thinwildmercury]

ACLS is required to be a med surg RN at my hospital. Yes you can take it. I believe you have to complete a pre-test and do some studying beforehand.

[ProgressiveThinking, MSN, CRNA]

If you want to get into ICU having ACLS is the bare minimum. You should also take a BART course. A good ICU program will put you through a formal critical care course (mine was one day a week for 6 weeks), but it seems that my manager pretty much scoops up anybody who takes the initiative to complete the course on their own. Taking a critical care course would definitely be helpful and will set you apart from others in the eyes of at least some managers.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Hi, there. Your thread has been moved to our Critical Care Nursing forum with the goal of amassing more responses. We wish you the best of luck with your career aspirations.

[_zoubisoubisou_]

I took and passed ACLS as a nursing student with no knowledge of basic rhythms. You can do it!

[mago8388]

I took ACLS and I work in psych. I learned a lot and really didn't study much ahead of time. As long as you have some basic understanding about basic telemetry like idea tidying normal sinus rhythm, VT, VFib, torsades. Basically if the patient is unconscious on a whacky arrhythmia you shock them, if they're conscious and symptomatic is usually cardiovertion which is a synchronized shock to normalize their rhythm. And meds you need to know are epinephrine, amiodarone, dopamine and atropine. Always push fluids unless contraindicated. I think that no matter the specialty all nurses should be ACLS certified because you never know when you'll be in the middle of a code and it's nice to assist. The instructor in my class was so awesome that he even let me practice incubating a patient even though RNs don't intubate. The more you learn the better imo.

[mago8388]

*Intubating. Sorry about the typos. This auto correct is annoying.

[Bumex, DNP, NP]

If you really want to get off the unit ASAP, find an ACLS class near you and just pay for it. They are usually around 150ish I think. It's very valuable knowledge. I actually took ACLS during nursing school to enhance my marketability as a new grad.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

ACLS is a lot easier than it used to be in some ways. They have reduced the number of medications that one must be familiar with by quite a bit. When I first took ACLS, I had to know epinephrine, lidocaine, bretyllium, magnesium sulfate, procainamide, adenosine, atropine, amiodarone, β-blockers (metoprolol and atenolol primarily), and Ca+ blockers (like diltiazem and verapamil). Running the Megacode used to be a horrific exercise in remembering which pathway we were following and then suddenly having to switch to something entirely different, back to the original rhythm, to something different from the first two... and then end up with ROSC and having to hang an antiarrythmic and a pressor...

Evidence-based medicine was really starting to get going back then so some medications were on their way out.

[Goldenfox]

Get the AHA ACLS book,study it, and then take the course. Learning arrythmias is like learning a new language, but for ACLS you only need to be able to recognize the most common and the most dangerous ones and to know the protocols and the drugs. The most challenging thing about it is understanding what each of those little boxes on the ekg strip means.

To get really good in ICU you will need to take a basic arrythmia course and a critical care course later. Investigate the hospital's willingness to pay for both.

[Greenclip]

Hi. In our area, having ACLS will not enhance your marketability for ICU. The expectation is that if you're hired into ICU with no previous critical care experience, the hospital will give you an EKG class and pay for ACLS. ACLS training is usually towards the end of your orientation time. Where I work, you have to have ACLS before you can take patients on your own. As a previous poster said, many hospitals require it within a few months of hire.

There were people in my ACLS class who were not from critical care. It was obvious in class that they did not have the same understanding of what was going on. They were able to follow the algorithms but that is not the same as having it reinforced by experience on the unit. I think that is why it is not a positive factor in hiring decisions in my city.

[CristyGerald]

Just wondering how the job hunt is going for you since you made this post. Did you take the course after all? If not, keep in mind that the AHA has made new guidelines as of 2015 and the new courses are just now out. Most companies won't have the new material published till next month. Here's one with the most recent material: https://www.acls.net/. They have some algo cards that may be useful to study with too.