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Elevating Resuscitation Practice at Mercy Health—Lessons Learned (Part 2)

April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021

HealthStream recently spoke with Angela Woods and Melissa Reichling, educators at Mercy Health, about their experience during the organization’s transition to online resuscitation training and manikin-based skills verification. This blog post, second of three excerpts from the article, focuses on lessons learned about resuscitation training at Mercy Health.

Learners Appreciate the Instant Feedback

From the beginning, this resuscitation training program’s instant feedback feature was a hit at Mercy Health. Reichling shares how the automatic feedback from the program helped people better understand what is involved in successful resuscitation. She adds, “You know if you’re doing well or not—hearing feedback ‘in the moment’ is a motivator to master the knowledge and technique required to provide someone with quality compressions and ventilations.” Reichling admits, “It’s a little difficult to hear that you’re not doing a good job. But once you realize where your technique is lacking, you have the opportunity to improve your resuscitation efforts immediately.”

Woods echoes Reichling, offering that, “One of the things that staff really, really like was having instant feedback while they were in the middle of their compressions or ventilations. The manikins are able to sense your depth and rate of compressions, then provide feedback so that the learner has the opportunity to perfect their practice.”

Woods emphasizes the value in helping learners to know the gaps in their technique. She states, “Instant feedback from the manikins helps us know where our deficiencies are. When I was completing the manikin portion for my basic resuscitation certification, I realized that I was holding my weight wrong when I was doing chest compressions on the manikin. Once I received the feedback, I adjusted my technique and it made a huge difference. It was an eye-opening experience for me to realize that my compressions could have been better.”

The Pause Button Can Help with the Online Training

The online training program takes learners through multiple resuscitation scenarios that could regularly occur for clinicians. Depending on the learner’s tech savviness, it can take time to get accustomed to how the online simulation works. Reichling relates how “Our main educator for the hospital, who was the instrumental person to lead us through this transition, reminded us that for the online training it’s important to use the pause button.” She adds, “The pause button exists so that you can acclimate yourself to the virtual environment.”

Don’t Multitask While Completing the Online Portion

Woods and Reichling strongly recommend that learners complete the online portion of the program in an environment in which they can focus. Woods advises that you, “make sure your hospital has enough equipment, especially computers, in order to complete the modules. Staff typically can’t just multi-task and do the online training while simultaneously caring for patients.” This part of the training needs to be completed “in a different place, in a quiet room where you can sit and concentrate.” Reichling advises her nurse resident and any resuscitation learners to avoid multitasking while completing the online scenarios, adding “If you want to engrain the content in your memory and make it part of your muscle memory, then do the online portion free of distractions and really take the time to review the feedback that comes after you’re done with each scenario.” In Reichling’s personal experience, “there were a few times where I was like ‘Oh yeah, I should have called the code team.’ But then it was reinforced in the next scenario and I remembered to call. That translates to my clinical practice.” The repetition and experiences that the program provides instill confidence in the learners over time.

A future blog posts in this series will continue our advice for healthcare education professionals interested in transitioning to inline training for resuscitation:

  • Consider Expanding the Training to Other Disciplines
  • The Value of the Convenience of Doing It on Your Own Time
  • Automatic Certification Tracking Is a Key Benefit

Download the full article here.