Poll regarding ACLS requirement

[Betsy]

The question has been raised by the curriculum committee as to if students in the School of Medicine should be required to be ACLS certified before graduation. They want students' opinion on the issue. Currently, many students take the Respiratory Care elective by Pam Rosema in Anesthesiology to become certified. However, not all students are able to take this elective and become certified for different reasons. Most residency programs require residents to be certified prior to starting internship, and some offer courses prior to starting internship. In addition, many medical schools across the country require their students to be certified during school. Do you think this is something MCG should do?

In addition, when do you think this should be required? There is debate as to whether this should be in 3rd year or 4th year. The most likely scenario would be signing up to take this course on a particular weekend, and being excused from clinical duties during this time.

Instituting the requirement for all students would require the hiring of additional help and would entail an additional new student fee of $150. Requiring a fee would have to be approved by the MCG Provost in order to add the cost into the financial aid package.

Please vote in the poll with your opinion, and feel free to post additional thoughts below. Any other questions, post here and I will be happy to respond.

[Adam Beall]

It's a decent idea in theory, but it seems like it would be a waste of time and money. If someone wants to learn ACLS, they can do this on their own without paying an extra fee. In addition, a medical student will never run a code. Also, most residency programs incorprate ACLS/ATLS training into their orientation week, which the program pays for. So in short, it would be an added expense in which mandated participation would have no significant benefit that I can see.

-Adam

[mwcausey]

Also, it only costs $80 to become certified with the respiratory care elective for BLS recert and ACLS.

[Betsy]

mwcausey said:

Also, it only costs $80 to become certified with the respiratory care elective for BLS recert and ACLS.

The extra cost is because Pam Rosema would have to hire additional staff in order to be able to certify 180 students.