N479 Community Service/Professional Activity Assignment

Name: Marissa Lizarraga

Date of activity: 8-22-15

Faculty Name: Darlene Lacroix

Describe the community service/professional activity you attended or participated with (be
specific about the purpose and your role).
Over the summer, I decided to partake in an Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
(ACLS) course. With the intent of one day working in an ICU setting as a registered nurse, I felt
that it was important to understand and apply this set of clinical interventions in the event of a
code on my unit. Overall, taking this course has better prepared me for a code situation and will
allow me to feel like a more valuable member in this type of situation. During the course, the
instructor taught and discussed with us various clinical scenarios and what we would provide as
a clinical intervention in a particular situation. We discussed clinical and medical interventions
that would be provided during a stroke, cardiac arrest, irregular cardiac rhythms, acute
myocardial infarction, and respiratory arrest. In addition, we were taught how to correctly and
quickly analyze various cardiac rhythms. Once the teaching portion of the class was completed,
the instructor walked us through approximately six different clinical scenarios in which after
learning correct clinical interventions, we as a group had to provide the proper intervention
during the given scenario. Each student was in charge of a certain aspect of the code and would
rotate roles at the start of a new clinical scenario. This was beneficial because we each had a
chance to provide compressions, ventilations, medications, and acted in the roles of recorder and
team leader. At the conclusion of the course, we took our competency exam and received our
ACLS completion card once the exam was passed.
Where was this held and what was the length of the program/activity?
The ACLS class was held at St. Josephs Hospital, included ten students, and lasted for a
total of eight hours.

Discuss the value of this experience to you (be specific).

Overall, this experience was extremely valuable to me. Between preparing for the course,
learning the material, and getting clinical hands on experience with critical types of clinical
scenarios, I feel more prepared to provide optimal patient safety and care during a code situation.
In addition, when going into interviews or applying for ICU positions, having my ACLS
certification will be a positive asset that I can offer to the potential unit I will be working on.
Further, I feel as though I am more prepared and more competent to take care of patients who are
in critical condition and have eliminated the fear of being a vital role in a code situation because
I now have the skills and knowledge to be successful during these types of situations. This class
also allowed me to advance myself in nursing education and skills, which is of benefit to my
professional development.
Would you recommend this specific community/professional experience in the future? Why
or why not?
I would absolutely recommend this experience to all students, regardless of the unit they
would like to pursue in their profession. ACLS can be applied to all adult units and although
PALS is required for pediatric units, ACLS can better prepare a students expectations,
experience, and knowledge if they are considering taking the PALS course. I truly felt that this
course made me more competent and advanced in providing clinical skills and allowed me to
feel more valuable as part of the healthcare team in the role of a student nurse. Further, this
course extremely enhances the students professional development and achievements and will
prepare them for their future career.