“Now I leave my desk for 3-4 hours rather than several days!” -Mat-Su Instructor

Impact

Using HeartCode Benefits Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in terms of:

• Effectiveness – Manikins require consistent skills demonstration from every participant, removing the subjective judgment of individual instructors.
• Preparedness – Trainees get certified on the most up-to-date AHA guidelines for BLS, ACLS, and PALS.
• Efficiency – Training time is reduced for instructors and trainees from 2 days to 3-4 hours, requiring less time away from regular responsibilities.
• Authority and expertise – Mat-Su is now a source for HeartCode BLS, ACLS, and PALS training for the larger region, offering it to community physicians and people from other nearby facilities.
• Compliance – Mat-Su can easily track certifications, identify delinquencies, and make staff accountable for what is required of them.

Situation

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is a 74-bed general hospital owned by Community Health Systems (CHS). Located between Palmer and Wasilla, approximately 36 miles northeast of Anchorage, we are the principal hospital for Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Built to replace an aging structure, the hospital opened on January 27, 2006. Our three-story, 200,000 square foot facility contains fifty medical/surgical beds and eight each of intensive care, progressive care, and obstetric beds, all in private rooms. There are four operating rooms, plus a fifth designated for Caesarean sections.

Previously, cardiac lifesaving skills certification training occurred in live, instructor-led classes. On average, we held more than 50 training sessions per year, with all the complications and difficulties inherent to this kind of learning. Even when classes had been scheduled way in advance, many attendees did not show up. It was especially difficult for our physicians to fit the training into their schedules.

At that time the Education Department had only one full-time employee, with several affiliated educators, many of whom had staff responsibilities as well. For this handful of instructors, the requirement to teach took them away from their other duties, seriously impacting their work flow and productivity. Keeping instructors was also a significant problem.

Approach

Already a HealthStream customer for authoring and core regulatory learning that supplemented the existing CHS Learning Management System, the Mat-Su educational department initiated simultaneous use of HeartCode BLS and ACLS three years ago and added HeartCode PALS two years ago. For the current training volume of 350 BLS learners and 200 ACLS and PALS learners every two years, we have 3 sets of manikins, which initially required significant instructor involvement to make certain that trainees were using them successfully.

Having recently attended live HeartCode Training I am a big advocate of this instructor preparation. The tips and ideas shared during training really helped me as a new Training Center Coordinator. For instance, I now know that we can use our manikins for practice and feedback during live classes.

Mat-Su was one of the hospitals that piloted HeartCode PALS when it first became available. This online training supplements our live PALS classes.

Results

A majority of our staff tells us they are very happy with the convenience of HeartCode. One common initial response to the training was “this is harder than I thought it would be.” Another was “now we have a more even playing field” as inconsistencies between instructors are removed from the training process, especially in terms of compression and ventilation quality.

Most members of our staff have no interest in going back to live classes. Accessing the training from home or during downtime means our clinicians no longer have to experience the interruption of being pulled from their jobs for a few days to take a class. In addition, courses are more fun—more like a video game, some tell us. At this point the demand for live training for BLS and ACLS has dwindled considerably. We recently had to cancel a live ACLS class due to lack of interest.

Our instructors’ teaching responsibilities have been reduced from two days to 3-4 hours at a time. Previously, BLS instructors felt the monotony of teaching the same class over-and-over. For the education department as a whole, HeartCode completely changes our approach to compliance tracking. Now we can run reports, identify delinquencies, and make assignments very easily.

First-time trainees can experience frustration when receiving manikin prompts; a little instructor assistance can go a long way towards improving the experience. People who are helped end up having fewer issues with the process. New administrators can really benefit from mentoring and coaching during the first few weeks, as well as making use of the Practice Sessions available on HealthStream.

I cannot emphasize how valuable the two-day training would be, prior to program launch. Take the time to launch HeartCode successfully and go through the training to be able to troubleshoot successfully. If possible, I recommend that you visit another hospital using HeartCode to see their successful program in action. Every education department should find its champions for HeartCode, asking them to take it and endorse the program to counteract negative responses. Finding a physician champion is doubly important. Some of our more experienced clinicians sometimes jump into the program without reading the directions, which leads them to take far longer to pass certification and gives them a negative impression. Making rounds to various departments and units during all shifts with the manikin is another way to get people interested and committed to moving towards HeartCode.