Improving Progressive Care Nurses’ Confidence and Performance During In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (IHCA): A Continuous Quality Improvement Initiative

Abstract

The literature is clear regarding the benefits of high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in relation to patient outcomes. The American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines recommend immediate initiation of chest compressions and defibrillation as soon as possible to increase the chance of survival from cardiac arrest. The development of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) have increased the survival rates of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, however rates of survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) have not improved over the past several decades despite an increase in resuscitation research. This project was to develop a system of quality improvement related to patient outcomes from IHCA. The aims included improving both performance and confidence of progressive care nurses when participating in an IHCA event. The retrospective data was collected and analyzed to determine gaps in performance data. The Emergency Response Confidence Tool (ERCT) was used to survey progressive care nurses’ confidence in participating in IHCA. The gaps in confidence were also analyzed to make recommendations for quality improvement