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Discussion

PALS Course

Hi all, I am a new grad, and I started working actually on the floor with patients about four days ago. Anyway, my orientation coordinator is trying to get me into the earliest PALS course, but my co-workers, including last year's new grads, told me they think it would be better for me to actually get a little more experience (a month or two) and actually see a code before I take the course because I will understand it more. What are you thoughts?

Thanks in advance

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  • Experts

There are pros and cons to both. I took it before I even started in PICU and had a really hard time making any of it make sense. I didn't have a solid understanding of the physiology of cardiac arrest and resuscitation and had so much trouble integrating the order of proceedings. The ABCs and CPR made sense, but why were we giving calcium? But on the other hand, at the end of it I did have a better grasp of how to recognize an impending code, what to expect to see happening during a code, what roles belonged to which people, and what the aftermath might look like. (When there's code on our unit, if it's not my patient I'm grabbing the clipboard... I'd much rather record events than be involved in them... call me chicken but that's how it is! Recording is also a really good learning experience, writing down things as they happen in concert with the patient's status does make it more clear.) There's a LOT of information in PALS that will really only be meaningful to you once you've seen it in use.

This is just my opinion, but it doesn't hurt to take the course now and then maybe instead of waiting the two years before you take the refresher, take it again next year. A whole lot more will make sense. The "new" PALS goes into a lot more than just codes - you're spend a lot of time learning about the things that usually precede the code - respiratory issues, shock, etc. Good luck.

PALS courses have always been about assessment. Assess, reassess, then do it again. No harm will come to you if you want to take PALS sooner rather than later. You may not get it all right now, but with more experience you'll see things you didn't know before and it will start making sense to you.

Jan, as usual, is right. One of the most important skills PALS teaches you is how to recognize decompensation and impending code. It takes a bit of practice but with experience you'll notice these things more and more in different patients you encounter.

Go for it. You'll get a lot from it. In 14 plus years as a PALS provider, you learn something new all the time. And that can't be a bad thing.

vamedic4

  • Experts
One of the most important skills PALS teaches you is how to recognize decompensation and impending code. It takes a bit of practice but with experience you'll notice these things more and more in different patients you encounter.

vamedic4

I must have retained enough of that education in recognizing things going sideways... let's tempt fate here... I have yet to have a patient I am responsible for require CPR on my shift. Don't tell the heart transplant patient I'm looking after tonight!

I must have retained enough of that education in recognizing things going sideways... let's tempt fate here... I have yet to have a patient I am responsible for require CPR on my shift. Don't tell the heart transplant patient I'm looking after tonight!

No worries, janfrn...your secret's safe with me.;)

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