ACLS needed for EM residency?

[jbar]

Hi,

I'm a fourth year med student taking an extra year to do research. My ACLS will expire at the end of this year. My school says that I can do my fourth year without ACLS, but if I want to stay current I would have to pay $175 out of pocket.

My question is will all EM residencies put me through ACLS during their orientation, or am I potentially going to get jammed up by not having the cert when residency starts?

Also, would away EM rotations care if I don't have ACLS? Thanks.

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[Rendar5]

My program provided all *LS certifications except for BLS. All my friends also got ACLS during the pre-orientation at their programs.

 

[dchristismi]

My residency did not provide ACLS - we had to get it on our own. Call your program and ask.

 

[Medicfletch]

My program also did not provide it. We had to pay it out of pocket and have verification it was completed prior to starting orientation. They used to provide it, but being a county hospital the ol' purse strings were tightened and they had to make cuts somewhere.

 

[SoCuteMD]

My program provided it. There were a few programs that didn't offer it and didn't reimburse for it, and honestly that dropped them down my list. As silly as it may sound, I didn't want to go to a program that didn't give me everything I needed to be a resident.

Plus, can't you always see where you match and take it shortly before graduation at school so that it's current through almost 2 years of residency?

 

[jbar]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I'll take it this year so I'm set through the end of school. Guess I'm out a buck seventy five.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Honestly, I wouldn't. There weren't many programs that didn't provide it. Plus, can't you just take it at the end of fourth year if your program doesn't? That'll save you from having to pay for a recert as soon as you get to residency!

 

[deleted109597]

Most residencies do provide it. Honestly, I think that not providing it, the places that don't are really cutting corners. I mean, surgery, internal medicine, family medicine, and anyone that has to respond to codes has to have it. This includes nurses as well. My hospital, that doesn't necessarily rake in the dough, pays their nurses for the hours they are in the class. I would wait until you found out where you're going, because many places include it as part of your orientation.
For those who went places that didn't pay for ACLS, did they also not pay for BLS? ATLS? PALS/APLS? NRP? Because if not, you're starting to talk about a fair chunk of change for all of those programs. I wouldn't want to train at such a place.