Nursing and Paramedic Students Collaborate in CPR/BLS Simulation Activities

Nursing Faculty: • Milena Staykova • Deidira Stewart• Jennifer Everidge• Susan Jones• Carol Bailey• Carolyn Lyon• Melody Sharp

Emergency Medical Services Faculty:

Mark Cromer

Roxanne Wilson

Elliot Carhart

Objectives

Upon completion of the presentation, participants will be able to:

Conclude that CPR/BLS collaborative learning activity increased students’ self-perception of knowledge

retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS.

Validate the importance of a collaborative learning activity to improve students’ self-perception of CPR/BLS

knowledge retention and skills.

Network with colleagues experienced in nursing and paramedic education and engaging students in active

learning.

Background• The Institute of Medicine (2003) and the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses

(2011) have considered interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration for improving quality and safety in patient care.

• Collaboration between nurses and paramedic personnel is critical for quality of care and for positive patient outcomes in emergency situations (Melby, 2001).

• Nursing and paramedic students are expected to demonstrate competence during events requiring CPR/BLS in community or clinical settings.

• Studies show that after initial certification, the retention of the CPR/BLS skills requires reinforcement; otherwise, a deterioration of skills is observed (Brown et al., 2006).

• In settings of stressful situations nurses, physicians, and paramedics have deviated from the CPR/BLS standards (Martin, 2005).

• Many authors urge the curricula of healthcare professionals to reinforce CPR/BLS skills and to evaluate the performance of these skills (Krahan, 2011).

Purpose

• To encourage the students to practice CPR/BLS skills in a collaborative environment

• To help students self-evaluate the retention of CPR/BLS knowledge and skills

• To enhance the students’ readiness to enter the multidisciplinary-healthcare field

Research question (RQ) and Hypothesis (H):• RQ: For nursing and paramedic students, what is the

students’ self-perception of the effects of an interprofessional learning activity on students’ knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS?

• H1: The nursing and paramedic students’ self-perception of knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS will increase after an interprofessional learning activity.

• Hₒ: The nursing and paramedic students’ self-perception of knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS will NOT increase after an interprofessional learning activity.

Method• This IRB approved descriptive study was based on a triangulation

(a) IP learning activity based on students’

team interactions

(b) 1:1 observation by certified faculty

(c) pre-and-post learning-activity survey • Descriptive (%, µ, δ) and Inferential statistics (paired t-test)

Sample• A convenience sample of 56 students:

- 36 junior-level nursing students- 20 sophomore-level paramedic (EMS) students

• 10 Faculty Members:- 8 from nursing program- 3 from paramedic (EMS) program

• 1 MSN student

Design• A pre-activity survey (white paper)• A 10-item questionnaire (Josipovic, 2009)• A Visual Analog Self-Knowledge Assessment Tool

(VASKAT) to collect data:– Zero (0) on the scale- lowest rating – Ten (10) on the scale- highest self-knowledge and skills rating

• Case-based simulation activity- 2011 American Heart Association BLS guidelines

• Manikins of moderate fidelity • A team of 2 nursing and 1 paramedic students • Collaboration and peer-teaching using professional

language and constructive feedback• Post-activity survey- yellow paper

EMS and Nursing students’ pre-and-post VASKAT survey percentage agreement on

each question Nursing VASKAT

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Questions

Value

s

7.4

7.6

7.8

8

8.2

8.4

8.6

8.8

9

9.2

9.4

Pre-Survey

Post Survey

Mean

EMS VASKAT

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Questions

Value

s

9

9.1

9.2

9.3

9.4

9.5

9.6

9.7

9.8

9.9

10

Pre-Survey %

Post-Survey %

Mean

Results: Difference in means between the EMS and nursing students’ responses for each question

using the VASKAT

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

VASKAT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Questions

Camparison of the means

EMS Pre-Survey EMS Post-Survey Nursing Pre-Survey Nursing Post-Survey

Paired t-Test Calculations Df T-Test p-value

EMS, n=20 19 2.31154E-08 <0.01

Nursing, n=36 35 1.25876E-44 <0.01

Rejection of the null hypothesis based on the

statistical calculation

Conclusions• The nursing and paramedic students’ self-perception of

knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS increased after the interprofessional learning activity.

• IP activity led to an increase of the students’ self-perception of knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS after the collaborative activity.

• The IP activity was more beneficial to the nursing students.

• However, both groups experienced an increased self-perception of knowledge retention and ability to perform CPR/BLS after simulation learning activities.

• Nursing students may benefit from curriculum integrating CPR/BLS knowledge and skill refreshment classes or annual CPR/ BLS competency validation.

ReferencesJosipovic, P., Webb, M., & Mc Grath, I. (2009). Basic life support knowledge of

undergraduate nursing and chiropractic students. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26(4), 58-63.

Krahn, R. E. (2011). Basic Life Support: A Call for Reevaluation by Nurse Educators. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(2), 128. doi:10.5480/1536-5026-32.2.128

Institute of Medicine. (2003, April 18). Health professions education: A bridge to quality [Workshop Report]. Washington, DC: Author.

Martin, V. R. (2005). Poor technique: All too common. Nursing, 35(4), 35. Melby, V. (2001). The adrenaline rush: nursing students' experiences with the Northern

Ireland Ambulance Service. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34(6), 727-736.Oermann, M. H., Kardong-Edgren, S., Odom-Maryon, T., Ha, Y., McColgan, J. K.,

Hurd, D., et al. (2010). HeartCodeTM BLS with voice assisted manikin for teaching nursing students: Preliminary results. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31(5), 303-308.

Söderholm, H. M., & Sonnenwald, D. H. (2010). Visioning future emergency healthcare collaboration: Perspectives from large and small medical centers. Journal of The American Society For Information Science & Technology, 61(9), 1808-1823.

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. (2011). Quality and safety competencies. Chapel Hill, NC: Author.

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