SWB first Trust in country to pilot new resus training

Medicine And Emergency Care

SWB’s deteriorating patient and resuscitation team work to provide guidance and training to colleagues across the Trust, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge required to effectively treat patients. A key part of this is training courses; the team aims to provide quality training and real-life simulations to clinical colleagues, both internal and external, by providing Resuscitation Council UK accredited courses.

Formed in 1983, Resuscitation Council UK is committed to ensuring that survival rates for in and out of hospital cardiac arrest improve. They do this by driving CPR education and encouraging everyone to learn life-saving resuscitation skills. The deteriorating patient and resuscitation service run courses that are nationally accredited by the council, from newborn and paediatric to adult advanced resuscitation. Recently, the service was approached by the Resuscitation Council to pilot a new course and help shape its future.

We visited the team to find out more about the training and see it in action. Lead Resuscitation Officer, Kevin Jennison explained: “We’ve developed a strong relationship with the Resus Council and were heavily involved with the creation of a basic life support instructor model that is now sold by Resus Council UK. My team and I have formed a strong relationship and it’s really exciting to be approached to pilot this new course.

“It demonstrates the calibre of the team here at SWB and we’re really proud of this achievement.”

The pilot course looks to modify the longstanding structure of the adult advanced life support recertification course. The course involves cardiac arrest simulation training and focuses on real life scenarios. Each participant is given a different patient scenario which may occur in the hospital environment and is responsible for leading the remaining team, instructing them on how to treat the patient based on changing circumstances.

The key difference between the pilot course and the traditional adult advanced life support recertification course is that the former does not include a simulated test or multiple-choice questions at the end. Instead, experienced clinicians on the course are continually assessed, with core skills assessed embedded within each scenario. This means that the participants are evaluated based on their performance throughout the simulations, and the instructors provide real-time feedback to help them improve their skills and knowledge.

The instructors continually update the participants on the patient’s condition, and the candidates work to administer the correct treatment, focusing on lifesaving skills and clinical safety. It’s clear that the course is of real benefit to the clinicians in the room, and they’re able to use the feedback of their fellow candidates and the instructors to learn their strengths and knowledge gaps.

Kevin was clear to note the significance of ensuring these courses are of the best possible quality: “The best gift we can give someone is the gift of life. I want to encourage all clinicians to refresh their training when they need to and make sure they have the skillset to resuscitate a patient - you never know when you might need it.”

If you’re interested in refreshing your training, contact the deteriorating patient and resuscitation team on swb-tr.swbhgm-resuscitation-team@nhs.net