Should I take PALS?

[lei7]

Hello - I'm currently doing my senior preceptorship (290+ hours) at the major Children's Hospital in the area, and it has been my dream to work there since before I started nursing school. A lot of the nurses on our floor did their preceptorships there, and then were hired, but given the state of the economy and budget cuts, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

Would taking PALS help, to sort of boost my resume? (I plan on taking it eventually, anyhow, but would being certified before I got a job help? One of my classmates did an internship in a NICU over the summer, and thought it was because she was certified in neonatal resuscitation, and that gave her an "edge" over other applicants)

Thanks!

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

NRP is much less complicated than PALS but PALS won't hurt your chances, that's for sure. But there are a lot of things in PALS that might be hard to grasp before you've gotten some experience. Plan to read through the book carefully at least twice and memorize your algorithms and drug doses before you take the course and you'll do better than if you expect to learn most of it in the course. Also realize that unless you use the knowledge you obtain in PALS, it will desert you in fairly short order.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

Our hospital pays for our initial PALS training and the classes for recertification (required every 2 years); they have the classes in our facility offered every couple of months, both training and recertification- very convenient. It may benefit you now resume-wise, but will probably be more useful/make more sense once you are a pediatric nurse. You might want to talk with the hospital(s) you are looking at, and ask what their recommendation is; every place is different. Good luck!!

[WineCountryRN]

I did it. I did exactly what you are thinking...I wanted into peds so I took PALS so that my resume would be even better. The PALS class was tough, I barely passed and I was an A student in school. I didn't remember a darn thing from it b/c I didn't get a job in peds until many years later. I graduated in 1994 and while I did everything 'right' in school as a student nurse intern, class officer, I had to move and didn't know anyone in the state I moved to. I think it does help your resume but I found that what really helped is being a student nurse intern (the candidate who got the one position that was actually available for a new grad did her clinical there). Hang in there, don't give up. Get experience with pediatric patients (volunteer at the hospital, network). Take classes if you can and make yourself marketable. (even work on advanced degrees....then I had no problem getting jobs )

Any experience will be to your advantage, even the dreaded years in other areas.