PEARS vs PALS vs BLS

[KidsNurseJen]

What certs (other than school nursing) do you maintain as a school nurse? I let my PALS go but do keep my AHA BLS. I've been thinking of having our nurses (RN/LPN) do PEARS rather than the same Non AHA CPR the district offers teachers.  What do you all think is helpful?

[sergel02, BSN]

Interested to see what other, more experienced school nurses say. 
 

For my job I have to maintain BLS. No other certs are required. PALS seemed interesting to keep but it's not like we got a Code team or meds at school. 
 

I don't know much about PEARS and what it has but I can't find any classes within hours for me. 

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

I have only ever maintained my BLS Provider cert, but I did PEARS when I worked inpatient pedi and I found it to be incredibly informative to that practice and I use the assessment skills gained from it almost every day in school. The videos that were shown during my training were of actual respiratory assessments, and so we got a really good idea of normal, not normal, distress, and crisis, so I would highly recommend it.

Our state school nurse reps actually sponsored PEARS for school nurses last year for free. Perhaps you could gather a group of nurses and see if you could host a training more locally from one of the vendors that is farther away? 

[sergel02, BSN]

k1p1ssk said:

I have only ever maintained my BLS Provider cert, but I did PEARS when I worked inpatient pedi and I found it to be incredibly informative to that practice and I use the assessment skills gained from it almost every day in school. The videos that were shown during my training were of actual respiratory assessments, and so we got a really good idea of normal, not normal, distress, and crisis, so I would highly recommend it.

Our state school nurse reps actually sponsored PEARS for school nurses last year for free. Perhaps you could gather a group of nurses and see if you could host a training more locally from one of the vendors that is farther away? 

Ooh that's a good idea! With the amount of paperwork and record keeping, and not being at every school every day, I know some school nurses REALLY don't want to do hands on care and assessment but I feel like part of that comes from fear and lack of training (for all of us).  It seems like PEARS would be a good class to help mitigate that. 

[Chavoba96, BSN, RN]

School district resource nurse here, do education for district staff. All staff — bus drivers to paraprofessionals to teachers to nurses — get BLS & Stop The Bleed. Early childhood staff get the Red Cross child care training. Nurses & our contracted athletic trainers get PEARS. 

[sergel02, BSN]

This is now making me wonder if I should just take the class on my own to be better prepared, or at least buy the textbook. The class is like $200 near me but the book is only $40. 
 

What exactly does it teach? I've done PALS before so I wonder if there will be some overlap.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

AHA PEARS course options

Quote

During PEARS, students interact with real patient cases, and realistic simulations and animations to assess and stabilize pediatric patients experiencing respiratory and shock emergencies, and cardiopulmonary arrest. PEARS prepares students to provide appropriate lifesaving interventions within the initial minutes of response until a child can be transferred to an advanced life support provider.

What does this course teach?

• Systematic pediatric assessment
• Recognition and stabilization of respiratory emergencies
• Recognition and stabilization of shock emergencies
• Recognition and stabilization of cardiopulmonary arrest
• Resuscitation team concept

Since school nurse often alone,  only person able to provide initial care AND direct scene, this would be best course in school setting over PALS.