Implementation of a Simulation-Based Cardiac Surgery Advanced Life Support Course

BackgroundNurses rarely have the opportunity to gain experience with the low-volume high-risk event of cardiac arrest and emergent bedside resternotomy in the cardiothoracic surgery patient.MethodNonprobability sample consisted of 33 intensive and progressive care nurses at a cardiovascular specialty hospital. Five- to eight-hour cardiac surgery advance life support courses with didactic content and four simulated patient scenarios were held. Team time to internal cardiac massage (TICM) was recorded with all patient scenarios. Participants completed the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Leaning survey postcourse.ResultsAll teams demonstrated improvements in TICM from initial scenario to final scenario with a mean time of 441.8 seconds for initial scenario and 237.8 seconds for final scenario. Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Leaning survey results indicated participants were satisfied with simulated scenario practice and self-confident in their learning.ConclusionTICM results support that teams improved their performance with the emergent resternotomy, and participants expressed satisfaction and self-confidence in learning.