A published study based on research done at Illinois Valley Community Hospital shows frequent self-directed CPR training for nurses and other health care professionals done on a mobile simulation station is more effective than traditional classroom CPR recertification instruction.
Recently published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, the study showed clinical staff significantly improved and had greater confidence in their CPR skills by practicing them every three months on a mobile simulation station rather than by taking a formal CPR class every two years, as IVCH nurses had been doing previously.
Data for the study was gathered when IVCH began using the new CPR recertification method in 2016 and through responses by workers who participated in the new training to a survey mailed to them in 2018.
The mobile simulation station used at IVCH was purchased with a $25,000 grant from the IVCH Foundation. IVCH was one of the first hospitals in Illinois to use this new training program.
“It’s all about repetition,” said Maureen Rebholz, IVCH education director. “In the past, nurses were required to take CPR certification classes every two years. Now they recertify by demonstrating their skills on the simulator four times a year. The data collected in the study demonstrates that the more often they practice, the more confidence they have in their CPR skills and that means they’ll be better able to use CPR on a patient if that becomes necessary.”
Lorna Dudzik, a professor of nursing at Lewis University in Romeoville, developed the study as a completion for her doctoral nursing degree under the preceptorship of Rebholz. The two are listed as co-authors of the Joint Commission Journal article along with Debra G. Heard, Russell E. Griffin, Mary Vercellino, Amanda Hunt and Adam Cates.
