ACLS Certification

[EctopicFetus]

So, I have the option of doing ACLS prior to residency starting. Can anyone help me out with what I should expect time wise? Can anyone tell me how often these are available?

Thanks!

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[JackBauERfan]

So, I have the option of doing ACLS prior to residency starting. Can anyone help me out with what I should expect time wise? Can anyone tell me how often these are available?

Thanks!

My school did ACLS for all the students during 3rd year sometime, and this same ACLS course was for nurses (mainly from ED,SICU, NICU), as well as folks recertifying. It was one day like (9-5) of lectures and practice stations set up. The next day was all testing, I think about 4-5 scenarios, and an EKG reading test. It wasn't actually easy, and the EKG test had some tricky ones. They gave us a website to practice from and it really helped for the test. They recommended we read the ACLS book from AHA (that you should get for applying for the course) before so we have more than one day to just read it, and I think it should be done, even though you MIGHT be able to pass with just going through the lectures. I mean, our first three years of med school (and now 4) will definitely help out answering some of the questions.

From my experience it seems like the ACLS classes are pretty uniform in that one day for lectures and one day for testing, and I think SO many people in the healthcare need them that you should be able to find one that suits your time period. Ours was free, but I'm sure its not cheap.

Now, I've been trying to find ATLS stuff and it is a lot tougher to find, since mainly trauma nurses are the only ones that actively try to get it I think. I'm on my trauma surgery rotation (5 fun weeks!) and want to try to take it at the end. Hope that answered the question, I think all you really asked was time period haha.

 

[keeping-it-real]

i don't know about time, but i do know that the new (2006) guidelines are coming out this fall. in fact, they are already out as circulation articles with updated explanations, but they aren't printed into book form yet. it might be wise to read the circulations instead of the book so that you have the most up-to-date skillset.

i know one of the big things they changed was nixing the stacked shocks because they interrupt chest compression for too long and are not significantly more effective than one max energy shock. and i also believe that they no longer pace asystole because it 1) has not shown improvement as per survival to discharge and 2) it unnecessarily delays chest compressions which causes further myocardial damage.

you can get the new circulation updates here:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/vol112/24_suppl/

 

[waterski232002]

ACLS isn't that hard. Pay attention to the stations and remember the drug doses for people who are alive (pulse) vs. dead (no pulse). It's really not harder than knowing this....

-A,B,C,D
-reading an EKG
-knowing when to shock (v-fib + v-tach)
-knowing the 3 no-fail drugs (epi, amio, atropine)

If you can't do those basic things, you've really got no business being near a code! And if you do know them... than you're set to basically run it.

The rest is just smoke and thunder.... Of course, I'm only half serious.

 

[leviathan]

i know one of the big things they changed was nixing the stacked shocks because they interrupt chest compression for too long and are not significantly more effective than one max energy shock. and i also believe that they no longer pace asystole because it 1) has not shown improvement as per survival to discharge and 2) it unnecessarily delays chest compressions which causes further myocardial damage.

you can get the new circulation updates here:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/vol112/24_suppl/

I believe another change is one minute of CPR for all hypoxic arrests before defibrillation, and all children without a history are automatic 1 minute of CPR prior to the first shock. Laypersons with AEDs will do 1 minute of CPR for all children. I wonder what this is going to do to current AED usage, as they are all programmed to do 3 stacked shocks.

 

[anonymousEM]

All of that being said unless your program has told you specifically to go out and find these courses, they will usually have a class set up for you and all of your fellow interns. Payment all taken care of by the residency and a chance for you to bond with your fellow interns. If you don't have to set it up yourself and it won't keep you from enjoying your days off in your first month of residency, why interrupt your preresidency down time?

 

[Apollyon]

I believe another change is one minute of CPR for all hypoxic arrests before defibrillation, and all children without a history are automatic 1 minute of CPR prior to the first shock. Laypersons with AEDs will do 1 minute of CPR for all children. I wonder what this is going to do to current AED usage, as they are all programmed to do 3 stacked shocks.

AEDs will need to be reprogrammed - this is written all over the updates. What they are pushing is pushing - CPR, GOOD CPR, uninterrupted, with shocks and meds thrown in. I can not emphasize enough how much they emphasize the CPR. Hell, the algorithm even states to continue CPR while the defibrillator is charging (like, hands on chest when the tone is getting higher and higher as the capacitor charges).