Author

Lesa R. Smith

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Committee Chair

Anna Hamrick

Abstract

The performance and quick interventions by nurses during a code blue event can have significant impact on patient outcomes. Code blue events can be stressful for nurses practicing in the medical surgical environment where, since the implementation of rapid response teams, the number of code blue events has decreased. The traditional basic life support (BLS) offering in the acute care settings offers nurses the opportunity to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with manikins and automatic external defibrillators (AED). However, the experience is lacking real working environment teams and equipment in which nurses practice every day. It is also well documented in the literature that this type of training is not sufficient in maintaining BLS skills. Poor retention of skills that are needed to perform BLS can lead to a decreased chance of survival in patients suffering a cardiac arrest. The opportunity for nurses to practice skills needed during a code blue event through simulation can aid in the retention of skills needed when faced with a code blue event (Sullivan, 2015). Evidence shows that simulation in the real work environment is needed to maintain basic life support skills, improve response times, and improve confidence in nurses during a code blue event.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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