Paris, Tenn. – Henry County Medical Center is the first acute care hospital in West TN to implement the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Quality Improvement program.
“RQI is a new and truly innovative program that has transformed the way hospitals view CPR competency for their staff,” said Christy Futrell, Director of Development for the American Heart Association’s West TN Go Red For Women and West TN Heart Walk. “Currently, hospital staff are required to attend a CPR class once every two years. Our science has proved that CPR skills decay occurs in as little as three months.”
Enter: RQI. Hospital staff members practice their CPR skills at the point of care (on a hospital floor), using real-time audio-visual feedback in 10-minute sessions every 90 days to achieve and maintain high-quality skills. Healthcare providers using RQI report feeling more confident with their skills, and RQI Analytics prove that CPR quality is improved.
“This is truly a training program of excellence,” said HCMC CEO Lisa Casteel. “Finally a program for our partners to not only read, but ‘DO’ and continuously stay up-to-date. Our staff, patients, providers, and community will all benefit from the rigor and skills of this program.”
The RQI program has been developed through a unique collaboration between the Association and Laerdal Medical, wherein the Association provides expertise in evidence-based research and best-practice guidance, and Laerdal Medical provides proven simulation/learning technology.
Utilizing a variety of learning tools with an emphasis on skills mastery through low-dose, high-frequency sessions and performance feedback, the RQI program offers three components: cognitive, psychomotor skills and simulated patient cases.
- Cognitive may involve interactive lectures, videos or web-based content and is targeted to specific provider groups within the hospital and in other healthcare settings.
- Psychomotor Skills sessions monitor and report RQI metrics and equipment used in the healthcare setting, utilizing performance measurements completed within the healthcare facility’s clinical units.
- Simulated Patient Cases require students to assess and treat a virtual patient care scenario and are integral to assessing a student’s ability to apply their RQI skills to a real patient case.
During the skills session/assessment, students are provided real-time, audio/visual feedback through a laptop, and student performance data is archived in a learning management system (e.g. compressions of adequate rate and depth, full chest recoil, minimal interruption to compressions, avoidance of excessive ventilation). This data is used to track and document individual student performance.
“RQI is the gold-standard for resuscitation quality improvement and skills maintenance within hospitals,” said Futrell. “There is no other program for medical professionals that addresses skills decay and provides objective feedback. Hospitals credit RQI as a catalyst for a Culture of Resuscitation Excellence in their organization. Above all else, RQI is a clinical quality improvement program that saves lives.”
Photo: Hospital staff members and EMS Director Twila Rose (at right) practice their CPR skills at the point of care. (HCMC photo).