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Anyone else have to go through ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) training for their school/residency/job? Did you feel like a total idiot? I did.
My GPR requires all residents to be ACLS certified. I went into the training thinking "Geez, I have to learn to intubate a patient in this course, when am I ever going to use that?" After going through the 2-day training, intubating the mannequin was the least of my problems. ACLS skills are meant to be used when ordinary BLS (basic life support) isn't doing the job on a patient that is down. BLS works on about 85% of scenarios; ACLS is meant to try and save the patient's life in that other 15%.
The instructors (a group of paramedics) kept presenting pictures of various EKGs and how to manage the patient with different meds (epinephrine, atropine, amiodarone, nitroglycerin, etc.) in different scenarios. The skills section requried you to be able to hook up a defibrillator to the patient, read the EKG that presents on the screen, and then manage the patient according to the condition their heart is in based on the EKG and clinical presentations. The defibrillator we're talking about here is the kind with the paddles like you'd see on ER; this isn't the automatic defibrillator we used in BLS.
The last time I identified an EKG was in my Physio class 4 years ago; I don't remember a thing. I felt like such an idiot in the ACLS class b/c the nurses and physicians who were in there with me knew exactly what was going on whereas I had no clue. I finally had to ask the instructors at the end of the second day to leave so I could go home and study the manual in great detail, memorize all the different EKG presentations, and come back on a different day to finish my skill tests and take the multiple-choice exam. There was no way I'd pass that exam with the limited knowledge I gained in the 2 day course. The paramedics were like "You mean you've never had to read an EKG in your work before?" I couldn't get mad at them b/c it wasn't their fault I was there, but I really wanted to yell "I"m a dentist, I look for cavities and gum disease, neither of which can be found on an EKG."
So now, even though graduation is looooooong over, it's back to the books for me till the test on Tuesday. And to think I tossed all my Physio notes just last week thinking "I'm never going to need this info ever again." This must be the revenge of those now-recycled Physio notes.
In a recent issue of JADA, there was a lengthy debate on "Should dentists be referred to as 'Physicians of the Oral Cavitiy?'" After my ACLS debacle, I have no desire to ever be connected to the term "Physician" and am very happy in my chosen title as "Dentist."
My GPR requires all residents to be ACLS certified. I went into the training thinking "Geez, I have to learn to intubate a patient in this course, when am I ever going to use that?" After going through the 2-day training, intubating the mannequin was the least of my problems. ACLS skills are meant to be used when ordinary BLS (basic life support) isn't doing the job on a patient that is down. BLS works on about 85% of scenarios; ACLS is meant to try and save the patient's life in that other 15%.
The instructors (a group of paramedics) kept presenting pictures of various EKGs and how to manage the patient with different meds (epinephrine, atropine, amiodarone, nitroglycerin, etc.) in different scenarios. The skills section requried you to be able to hook up a defibrillator to the patient, read the EKG that presents on the screen, and then manage the patient according to the condition their heart is in based on the EKG and clinical presentations. The defibrillator we're talking about here is the kind with the paddles like you'd see on ER; this isn't the automatic defibrillator we used in BLS.
The last time I identified an EKG was in my Physio class 4 years ago; I don't remember a thing. I felt like such an idiot in the ACLS class b/c the nurses and physicians who were in there with me knew exactly what was going on whereas I had no clue. I finally had to ask the instructors at the end of the second day to leave so I could go home and study the manual in great detail, memorize all the different EKG presentations, and come back on a different day to finish my skill tests and take the multiple-choice exam. There was no way I'd pass that exam with the limited knowledge I gained in the 2 day course. The paramedics were like "You mean you've never had to read an EKG in your work before?" I couldn't get mad at them b/c it wasn't their fault I was there, but I really wanted to yell "I"m a dentist, I look for cavities and gum disease, neither of which can be found on an EKG."
So now, even though graduation is looooooong over, it's back to the books for me till the test on Tuesday. And to think I tossed all my Physio notes just last week thinking "I'm never going to need this info ever again." This must be the revenge of those now-recycled Physio notes.
In a recent issue of JADA, there was a lengthy debate on "Should dentists be referred to as 'Physicians of the Oral Cavitiy?'" After my ACLS debacle, I have no desire to ever be connected to the term "Physician" and am very happy in my chosen title as "Dentist."