Jennifer Meinen submitted 2020-02-28
I have been in the medical field since I was 18 y/o, & received my ACLS when I was 19y/o as a Paramedic. I was very nervous when I first started out in the medical field. I was terrified to think about performing CPR on a person, let alone giving life saving cardiac medications. I was very excited when I had my first CPR save. I have had many CPRs in my career, not all have had the best outcome. It has became like second nature to me now. I have maintained my certifications throughout my career. I feel as if I learn something new every time I re-certify. I feel it is very important to stay proficient and up to date on your ACLS. When learning my ACLS medications I discovered it was easiest to break them up into groups of four, until I became very familiar with every aspect of them. When studying my cardiac rhythms, I would break them up in groups of four as well. When I learned “lethal rhythms’, I was very lucky to have an amazing instructor as well as a partner on the ambulance that could “dumb things down’ for me. It is very beneficial to speak with other s on how they learn different things, because sometimes their way of learning helps things to sink in better. They may have a way of learning that you never thought about. I believe physical fitness is also very important when it comes to ACLS. You never know how long you will be performing compression on a patient, or you may be short staffed, and only have 2 people to take turns doing compressions. It can be very strenuous. You also have to maintain a certain number of compressions to even be effective. If you are not in fairly good physical shape, you can become fatigued and that affects the outcome of your patient.