Tampa General Hospital first acute care hospital in Tampa Bay to offer American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Quality Improvement Program
(Tampa, FL) – June 19, 2018 – Tampa General Hospital will soon be the first acute care hospital in Tampa Bay to implement the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI®) program, with a go-live date of July 2, 2018.
“RQI is a new and truly innovative program that has transformed the way hospitals view CPR competency for their staff,” said Lisa Primiani, development manager for the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Quality Improvement program, Greater Southeast Affiliate. “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.”
That’s where RQI comes in. Hospital staff 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.
“Our goal is to provide the highest quality of care through continuous improvement” said Kelly Cullen, executive vice president and chief operating officer at TGH. “We chose RQI because we believe ongoing competency will drive quality resuscitation and deliver better patient outcomes.”
The RQI program has been developed through a unique collaboration between the Association and Laerdal Medical. The Association provides expertise in evidence-based research and best-practice guidance, and Laerdal Medical provides proven simulation/learning technology.
Using a variety of learning tools with an emphasis on mastering skills 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, using 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 help evaluate 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.
“The more they’re able to practice these lifesaving skills the better prepared and confident our team members will be,” said Wendi Goodson-Celerin, vice president of Neurology, Orthopedics and Clinical Education at Tampa General Hospital. “Being able to perform high quality compressions in CPR is critical to patient survival outcomes. We’re excited to be offering our team members this innovative teaching method.”
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