At the hospital system I work for it has been decided to have us go through the motions of a CPR class every quarter. No, I am not sure why. Someone probably observed someone with rusty skills.
CPR certification lasts for 2 years.
In this regime, there is an online portion. This is where you do the book learning of the old system. Different scenarios are given and you have to pass each scenario with 100%.
Don’t worry, the test helps you along.
The most common type is the adult scenario. Differing patients with differing problems allow the learner (that’s you) to learn and show that the material has been understood.
Ideally, this is knowledge that can be used in real world scenarios.
After all, in each code, there isn’t necessarily a code team steps away from the operating room. Your mission is to get the patient to survive the code until the cavalry arrives. By calvary I mean the ER nurses, the ER doctor, a pharmacist, the nursing supervisor, the chaplain on duty, and ICU nurses. Who shows up depends on what time of day it is and if there is anything horrible going on in their unit.
Concurrent codes do occur. Depending on your hospital size this would be rare but it can happen.
To facilitate quarterly skills testing, a wired up CPR adult dummy and a wired up CPR infant await you with laptops to test your skills. There are 2 stations.
The dummies are the first thing you see as you enter the employee entrance.
They are ready to take all comers.
But don’t be too rough. I’ve seen the baby dummy with no legs and they are never dressed afterward.
Give the dummies their dignity and redress them.
At the very very very least, don’t try to take off their head and break their neck with your aggressive C-clamp.
After all, you get another swing at the apple starting next quarter. Be gentle, would you?
These dummies have a lot of customers in the staff of the 150+ bed hospital. Think of everyone else who has to test. Don’t decapitate the dummy.
You might kill the dummy in the computerized scenario but we never said it was gonna be for reaslies.
If you kill the dummy in the computerized scenario you can try again. These dummies are a lot like computer games that way.
Unless you break their necks.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 