Among many other traits of nurses, a significant one is that they are lifelong learners. They invest their time, energy, and effort in bringing improvement to their organization and health outcomes. And for this, they have to regularly expand their educational expertise and stay updated on the new or upcoming healthcare system requirements. They need to learn skills that can help them improve critical thinking to make prompt and independent decisions whenever required. Nurses need to perform well in-hospital emergencies as many matters of life-and-death rely on their clinical activities.
Employers require additional certifications from nurses to complete to gain the necessary skills needed to save a life. Some of the most common certificates are Basic Life Support (BSL), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). These certifications are crucial, but ACLS is specially designed for healthcare workers who work with critically-ill adults in the ICU or ER. They review their BLS skills, learn about pharmacology, airway management, peri-arrest condition, and cardiac arrest. They also become more effective leaders of resuscitation teams and become better at communication. Let’s look at all how certifications help nurses perform well in hospital emergencies:
1.Good Clinical Status
Nurses who have acquired the ACLS certification become more reliable in their jobs than others. They become more reputable in their clinical department. Medical institutions recruit many new nurses based on their experience, success rate, and training certificates. Therefore, nurses can opt for the ACLS certification online as it helps them expand their academic expertise and clinical experiences. Fortunately, online education allows them to complete their certification with their current job. These online certifications from a reputable institute are essential and valuable for advancing and growing in nurses’ careers. Basic Life Support teaches them all the crucial life-saving techniques, while ACLS boosts their knowledge from the previous certification – improving their overall knowledge and expertise. The more nurses with such certifications that hospitals have, the better their chances of dealing with challenges in-hospital emergencies.
2.Valuable During Health Crises
The past two years have been nightmarish for the healthcare industry as the pandemic took over the world. This infectious virus targeted many populations worldwide, mercilessly causing deaths to infants, children, and adults – both male and female. Sadly, the healthcare sector faced an immense shortage of workers and a labor force during this time. Today health authorities encourage their nurses to take up these certifications to prove themselves more valuable. The world needs medical experts to respond to these emergencies in the best way possible. These courses help them become appropriately equipped. COVID-19 has brought several chronic and acute respiratory and cardiac emergencies. In the wake of such a pandemic, public and private hospitals look for nurses with such education. And as we face new and different variants of this virus, we need many such candidates who can fight these battles on the front lines.
3.Enhanced Technical Knowledge
Certifications allow healthcare professionals to enhance their technical knowledge and expand their skillset. Such expertise helps them deliver comprehensive, holistic, and complete care to their patients, which makes them essential during hospital emergencies. For instance, after ACLS certification, they can easily recognize and continue early respiratory arrest or heart attack management. It helps them make quick and informed decisions about the patient’s treatment before their physician arrives. Similarly, it enables them to learn and practice airway management and perform critical tasks like intubations. It can be instrumental whenthe patient cannot breathe, and doctors are not availablefor immediate treatment. Not only this but, such courses help them become more updated and use newer and more effective methods to treat the patients.
4.Fast and Flexible
These training certifications provide students with in-depth knowledge and understandings of different conditions of patients. They learn through various case studies and come up with ideas for ways in which they could improve patient care. Through these courses, nurses can recognize and manage peri-arrest conditions like bradycardia and save lives. With immediate treatment and assistance from the nurses, these patients can avoid progression or regression into a complete cardiac arrest.The nurses become faster and more flexible with knowledge and understanding like this. They learn about all the essential and advanced equipment used in hospitals and clinics where emergency treatments are given to patients. It makes them more confident in their jobs and less dependent on physicians’ decisions, and become quicker at critical thinking.
5.Understanding of Complex Critical Care
When nurses have the proper certification, they can also validate the qualms of patients and their families that they are well taken care of. They can relax knowing that their nurses have adequate knowledge and experience in the specialty of critical care. Today, the patients require vigilance and holistic care treatments from their nurses because they are exposed to many more unidentified diseases. Nurses agree that patients are now more at risk of being critically ill than a few years ago because of increasing emerging infections in the community. Patients want to know how well certified their nurses are.The awareness of nurse certifications is slightly higher than other professions among consumers of these health services. The nurses need to hold essential accreditation to deal with hospital emergencies efficiently and expertly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, certifications are essential for nurses’ personal and career growth and their contribution to the healthcare sector. These educational programs help them become more reliable, flexible, and prompt in dealing with hospital emergencies. It gives them an excellent clinical reputation which makes them valuable for healthcare organizations.
