N479 Professional Activity Evaluation Form

Your Name: Sara Dietrich Date of Activity: 11/16/17 Faculty name: Beverly Bias
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 last week was an Advanced Cardiovascular Life

Support class provided by the American Heart Association. The purpose of this class is to teach

life support strategies beyond basic life support, including pharmacological and non-

pharmacological interventions for different types of cardiac and respiratory failure. This class

taught us the signs and symptoms of different types of cardiac and respiratory arrest, and how to

react appropriately to each situation. This class focused a lot on heart rhythms and how to react

to different types of tachycardia, bradycardia, and life-threatening rhythms. The class included a

pre-test, in-person class, as well as a practical and written test that must be passed in order to be

certified as an ACLS provider. My role during this class was the role of a student and future

healthcare provider. I was able to apply the knowledge I was learning during this class to

previous experiences with codes during my preceptorship in the ICU. This class is required for

ICU nurses, so I am certain that I will be using and applying this knowledge throughout my

career.

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

This class was held at Eclipse CPR Training, which is an associate of Carondelet Health

Network. The in-person class itself was 6 hours long, with an additional 2 hours of outside time

dedicated to preparing and taking the pre-test. This class took a total of 8 hours to perform.

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

 This experience was extremely valuable to me because it taught me skills that I am

certain I will be using during my career as an ICU nurse. During my preceptorship, I witnessed a

few codes and was able to perform chest compressions, but I was pretty confused on everything

else that was occurring during the code. This class cleared everything up for me and made me

feel more confident in my role during a code. I now understand the steps that must be taken

during cardiac arrest, including analyzing rhythms, defibrillation, chest compressions, rescue

breathing, and the use of pharmacological interventions including epinephrine and amiodarone.

It was also really beneficial to learn about other non-life-threatening tachycardic and bradycardic

rhythms and how to intervene with those. This class felt like the last piece of the puzzle that I

really needed in order to become a competent ICU nurse.

Would you recommend this specific community/professional experience in the future; why or

why not? (Describe)

I would definitely recommend this activity to any nursing student that is nearing the end

of their education. I know that most hospitals require ACLS certification for nurses, and for good

reason. For those who feel that doctors run the code and tell the nurses what to do, so we do not

really need to know this stuff, I disagree wholeheartedly. As part of the healthcare team, nurses

need to know what to expect and also need to realize that doctors can make mistakes. It is our job

as nurses to remind team members when something should be done differently. This class will

really help nursing students to reinforce their knowledge and prepare them to enter into the

professional world of nursing.

Brochure or proof of attendance obtained? Yes.

Signature on validation of clinical hours form obtained? No. I forgot to bring my sheet to the

class, but I have my ACLS card with time and date, as well as instructor name.