TUESDAY, Nov. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Regular simulation training improves emergency department nurses' CPR skills, a new study shows.
Currently, hospital health-care workers are only required to undergo formal training in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) every two years, according to the study authors. This isn't often enough, they said at the American Heart Association's annual meeting, which concluded Tuesday in New Orleans.
"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," lead author Dr. Michael Kurz said in an AHA news release. He's an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
He and his colleagues placed two mobile CPR simulation stations in the emergency department of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospitals.
Quarterly training sessions became part of the normal duties of 150 emergency department nurses beginning in June 2015.
Use of mobile simulation stations for one year led to improved CPR skills, especially chest compression technique, the researchers found.
Study results presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on CPR.
