A published study based on research done at Illinois Valley Community Hospital
shows that frequent self-directed CPR training for nurses and other healthcare
professionals done on a mobile simulation station is more effective than
traditional classroom CPR recertification instruction.
Recently published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient
Safety, the study showed that clinical staff significantly improved and
had greater confidence in their CPR skills by practicing them every three
months on a mobile simulation station rather than by taking a formal CPR
class every two years as IVCH nurses had been doing previously.
Data for the study was gathered when IVCH began using the new CPR recertification
method in 2016 and through responses by healthcare workers who participated
in the new training to a survey mailed to them in 2018.
The mobile simulation station used at IVCH was purchased with a $25,000
grant from the IVCH Foundation. IVCH was one of the first hospitals in
Illinois to use this new CPR training equipment.
“It’s all about repetition,” said Maureen Rebholz, IVCH
education director. “In the past, nurses were required to take CPR
certification classes every two years. Now they recertify by demonstrating
their skills on the simulator four times a year. The data collected in
the study demonstrates that the more often they practice, the more confidence
they have in their CPR skills and that means they’ll be better able
to use CPR on a patient if that becomes necessary.”
Lorna Dudzik, a professor of nursing at Lewis University in Romeoville,
developed the study as a completion for her doctoral nursing degree under
the preceptorship of Rebholz. The two are listed as co-authors of the
Joint Commission Journal article along with Debra G. Heard, Russell E.
Griffin, Mary Vercellino, Amanda Hunt and Adam Cates