To become a registered nurse, you have to complete two to four years of schooling. Once you graduate from school, you might think that you are done with the training and now you can help people in the best way possible. As a matter of fact, as a nurse there are many additional courses that you can obtain and improvise your knowledge and skills.
The most common reason why nurses put away the idea of getting additional certification courses in their field is that they do not like attending long classes, as it can become very hectic with their job as a nurse. To help nurses with this common problem, many additional courses are offered, which does not require going to actual classes and will not take much of your valuable time.
Here are some of the certification courses that can be obtained easily and can be very useful for a nursing career. Some of them are mentioned with details below for your knowledge:-
- BLS (BASIC LIFE SUPPORT) –
BLS certification program is to get certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The classes involved in the certification program include CPR for infants, children and adults. During the lessons, you will also get to learn on how to treat a person, if choking, and how to effectively use an automatic external defibrillator. Once you complete the BLS certification course, you are required to renew your certification every two years once, by taking the renewal classes.
This course is necessary for all the nurses, before they start working as a nurse in any health facility. This course provides you with the basics of life saving and offering health care to people in general.
- ACLS (ADVANCED CARDIAC LIFE SUPPORT ) –
Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification program is a much more advanced version of the basic life support certification program. With the ACLS certification program, you will be able to analyze and help the patient with life threatening conditions like a stroke or a heart attack. You will be trained to conduct first aid treatments on the patients, before they are taken to a medical facility.
Nurses, who are interested to work in the critical areas of care, should definitely take the ACLS certification program. It will help them to care for their patients in difficult and emergent situations.
- NRP (NEONATAL RESUSCTATION PROGRAM) –
The NRP certification course is very useful for nurses, who are interested in pediatrics. This course will help you to help and treat the newborn infants, which suffer from health problems soon after their birth. You are taught to tackle with problems of premature infants, newborns needing CPR and airway management for the newborns. You can take online exams to qualify for the certification and then apply for classroom sessions to get certified.
ACLSED NRP class San Diego is available online and you can find textbooks specified for the course in pediatrics book stores.
Additional certification will not only help you in your career, but will also make you a better health care provider.