CINCINNATI — UC Health is the first hospital system in the Greater Cincinnati area to adopt the American Heart Association's new CPR training program. Less than a year since the implementation of the Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) program, the hospital says it is already seeing a difference.
Patty Wilson is the Training Center Coordinator for the American Heart Association in Cincinnati. Wilson says UC Health is also among the first 500 hospitals in the nation to incorporate this program, which was implemented in July. CPR trainings are required once a quarter by the American Heart Association.
"RQI forces you to do your skills correctly, the way the American Heart Association sets the standard," said Wilson. "Prior to that, with instructor-led courses we had no way of measuring. We'd just look at the person, see they were doing compressions or ventilations, but no way to judge if they were doing it correctly."
The feedback device grades you while performing compressions or ventilations on an adult or child mannequin. For Registered Nurse Jake Long, the new device helps save time, whereas in the past, an instructor-led course was required once every two years.
"Before with the class, most of us would schedule a day to be off," recalled Long. "It takes a full day to do the class. But with this, you can literally do it while you're on a shift at work, or at the end of your shift!"
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), CPR skills can diminish within three to six months of training. Now that RQI training is required quarterly for those getting their CPR certification through AHA, Wilson believes it will help save more lives.
"This has really helped with staffing," said Wilson. "You're learning the same content, it's just delivered different."
Almost 5,000 UC Health providers have been trained since RQI was implemented at UC Health in July. Long, who says he uses CPR in real life every day, is one of those. He says practicing on this device helps him feel more confident while on the floor of the Emergency Department.
"A little more confident, honestly, and even assisting new nurses or medics coming in that have never done CPR before, you can see inconsistencies and push them in the right direction," said Long. "You know how much rate and depth compression-wise you're doing!"
