Frequent Simulation-Based Training Improves CPR Proficiency

A low dose, high frequency psychomotor simulation training model improves cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills among hospital staff, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Alabama (Birmingham, USA) placed two American Heart Association (AHA) resuscitation quality improvement (RQI) mobile simulation stations in the emergency departments (EDs) of UAB Hospitals, and quarterly training simulations were then integrated into the normal duties of 150 ED nurses, beginning in June 2015. The researchers then measured simulated and clinically delivered CPR quality metrics before and one year following implementation, using RQI data and automated external defibrillator (AEDs) equipped with thoracic impedance.


The results showed that when compared to baseline data, use of the mobile simulation stations for one year was associated with an improvement in the number of compressions with both adequate recoil and depth. In addition, an analysis of 4,513 sessions of clinically delivered CPR before and 4,781 sessions after one year of RQI implementation demonstrated an association with improved chest compression fraction (CCF). The study was presented at the AHA scientific sessions, held during November 2016 in New Orleans (LA, USA).

“High-quality CPR is essential for functional survival from cardiac arrest; however, the opportunity to perform CPR is too infrequent currently to maintain proficiency for most providers,” said lead author Michael Kurz, MD, MSc, of the UAB department of emergency medicine. “Low dose, high frequency psychomotor simulation has demonstrated maintenance of CPR proficiency among inpatient providers.”

The 2010 AHA guidelines for hands-only CPR call for at least 100 chest compressions per minute for at least two minutes, at a depth of at least two inches in the center of the victim's chest prior to using an AED machine.

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