N479 Professional Activity Evaluation Form

Your Name: Ella Nanci Date of Activity: Nov. 9, 2019 Faculty name: David Nicholls

Describe the community service/professional activity/s you attended or participated with (be
specific about the purpose and your role):

The professional activity that I attended was a class to receive a certification in Advanced
Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS). The purpose of an ACLS certification is to ensure that a
health care professional is trained to the American Heart Association (AHA) standards to
provide the appropriate treatment during life-threatening cardiovascular events. ACLS is
recommended for healthcare providers who might experience emergency cardiac events such as
doctors, nurses, and paramedics. This course covers basic life support, pharmacology of ACLS,
airway management, resuscitation teamwork and leadership, and how to recognize and manage
cardiac and respiratory emergency events. My role of obtaining an ACLS certification is how to
utilize the appropriate skills and knowledge that I had learned from this course to facilitate
optimal patient outcomes during life-threatening cardiovascular events.

Where was this held and what was was program/activity length?

The class was held at St. Joes Hospital in Tucson on Saturday November 9th, 2019. The class
was 8 hours long. It started at 8:30 am and ended at 4:30 pm.

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

This class was important for me to take because I know that many Emergency Departments (ED)
and Intensive Care Units (ICU) require an ACLS certification and I want to make sure that I
meet most of the requirements while applying to increase my chances of receiving a job on one
of these units. Although for some hospitals it’s not required to have the certification while
applying, I also took the class because I was genuinely interested in what this class had to offer.
This class provided me with an insight into what future events I might be facing as an ED or ICU
nurse and gave me more confidence while applying for jobs. I now feel more prepared to become
a professional nurse than I would have if I did not take this class because I know more of what
skills these jobs expect from me.

How would you continue to use this experience throughout your nursing career?

I know that the ED and ICU are more prone to experience cardiac emergencies. If I were to
receive a job on one of these units I would be able to use the skills that I learned from the ACLS
class if I were to experience one of these events. These units carry automated external
defibrillators (AEDS) and have the appropriate drugs to use during emergency cardiac events
that I am now qualified and would use if faced with a cardiac emergency. ACLS is a certification
that I will continue to renew throughout my career as a nurse because I know how important it is
to have while working on one of these units. Even if I did not work on one of these units I would
continue to renew my license because emergency cardiovascular events can happen anywhere,
not just on critical care units, and I want to be able to help to the best of my ability if need be.

Would you recommend this specific communnity/professional experience in the future; why or
why not? (Describe)

I would recommend the experience if anyone was considering working on a critical care unit or
is a healthcare provider and genuinely interested in emergency cardiovascular events. The ACLS
course has material that is advanced and would be difficult to understand if one did not have
prior knowledge on how to read electrocardiograms, administer medications, and basic anatomy,
physiology, and pharmacology. It is also important that the ACLS class is also approved by the
AHA so I would specifically recommend this course or one that is at least approved by the AHA.
This is because I learned that the AHA is the gold standard for ACLS training and some
hospitals may require that an applicant’s ACLS course was AHA approved to qualify for a
position.

Brochure or proof of attendance obtained if applicable? Yes Signature on validation of

clinical hours form obtained? Yes