Do I need to pre-study BLS and ACLS before orientation?

[Sea_Bass]

I just got a hefty package in the mail from my residency program. It's my BLS and ACLS books.

The accompanying letter from my program says I should study these books before orientation begins. Lots of bold type and underlining is used.

Is that really necessary, or is it sort the equivalent of "that guy" who tries studying his textbooks the summer before med school starts? How much prep did you all do before orientation began?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Bacchus]

Don't study ahead. It's easy enough to pick up, especially if they're giving you the 2-day ACLS course.

 

[evilbooyaa]

LOLno.

Neither BLS (which you should have done as a medical student) or ACLS are actually hard to pass and get certified for.

 

[Raryn]

I just got a hefty package in the mail from my residency program. It's my BLS and ACLS books.

The accompanying letter from my program says I should study these books before orientation begins. Lots of bold type and underlining is used.

Is that really necessary, or is it sort the equivalent of "that guy" who tries studying his textbooks the summer before med school starts? How much prep did you all do before orientation began?

If you went to medical school, the actual course/modules they'll make you do for the ACLS course will be much, much more than sufficient. The only thing that might be even a little bit tricky (if you haven't looked at any EKGs in a year) is identifying rhythm strips, and even then the ACLS course uses super simple ones.

 

[NERDY]

I would at least flip through the books so you are familiar with the content.

 

[DrBowtie]

We had to bring a printed pretest certificate to the first day of class. Might want to double check yours isn't the same.

 

[HLxDrummer]

I'm a MS4 so take this with a grain of salt but we did ACLS as third years and anyone can pass. The question is do you want to be fumbling around looking at pocket cards through the code, or actually know what your doing? The majority of my class didn't actually run the code. They just stood there and said a few things here and there as the instructor corrected them/gave them hints.

I was probably that annoying guy who studied the night before, but I walked in confident, assigned roles, had people continue compressions through charging, minimized interuptions, etc and didn't read off the card. At the same time I am going into EM and want to feel comfortable in those situations and need to have stuff like that memorized.

 

[NickNaylor]

The ACLS algorithm is easy enough to memorize. I "pre-studied" for it by watching a series of videos on YouTube essentially outlining the algorithm and basic diagnostic considerations. It was maybe 2-3 hours of videos a random ER attending put together and threw up on YouTube. That was more than sufficient. And the only reason that I did that much was because we didn't get the book beforehand and I didn't want to have to sit there and read a book during the "class."

So no, you don't need to study, but if you're the kind of person who wants to get a look at the material beforehand there are plenty of YouTube videos that can review the material fairly quickly.