Abstract
Purpose/Aims: The aims of this clinical nurse specialist-led project were to describe the experiences and perceptions of adult intensive care unit nurses using the resuscitation quality improvement (RQI) program as the primary method for resuscitation education and retraining in a community hospital and to form recommendations for improving the RQI experience for participants based on the responses of participants as part of a quality improvement project.
Description of the Project: An online survey from a convenience sampling of registered nurses in an intensive care unit (N = 28) was done to obtain feedback regarding their perceptions of the RQI program. Analyses of the responses were performed separately by 3 investigators using principles of content analysis before obtaining consensus on themes to increase validity by triangulation.
Outcome: Themes emerged regarding the beneficial nature of the RQI program as a cardiopulmonary resuscitation learning strategy, such as increased frequency for the practice of compression and ventilation skills that included real-time feedback and increased knowledge of the roles of resuscitation team members. However, themes reflecting cumbersome aspects of using the RQI program were also revealed, such as technological and mechanical shortcomings, the structure of the manikins and ergonomics of the RQI environment, time away from patient care to complete RQI requirements, and lack of resuscitation team interactions.
Conclusion: Removing or mitigating barriers that hamper efficient use of nursing time using a quality improvement framework may enhance the RQI experience and program delivery, resulting in improved in-hospital cardiac arrest patient care.