Implementing a Cardiac Skills Orientation and Simulation Program

Abstract

Patients with cardiac morbidities admitted for cardiac surgical procedures require perioperative nurses with a high level of complex nursing skills. Orienting new cardiac team members takes commitment and perseverance in light of variable staffing levels, high-acuity patient populations, an active cardiac surgical schedule, and the unpredictability of scheduling patients undergoing cardiac transplantation. At an academic medical center in Boston, these issues presented opportunities to orient new staff members to the scrub person role, but hampered efforts to provide active learning opportunities in a safe environment. As a result, facility personnel created a program to increase new staff members' skills, confidence, and proficiency, while also increasing the number of staff members who were proficient at scrubbing complex cardiac procedures. To address the safe learning requirement, personnel designed a simulation program to provide scrubbing experience, decrease orientees' supervision time, and increase staff members' confidence in performing the scrub person role.

Effects of Simulation-based Scrub Nurse Education for Novice Nurses in the Operating Room: A Longitudinal Study

“…In this study, self-monitoring was defined as discovering problems with oneself. In a previous study, the simulation program was effective in improving self-evaluation ( Hemingway et al, 2018 ). Per the current results, SSNE can be one way to get students to engage in self-monitoring.…”

“…In Japan, there is no special qualification to become a scrub nurse, and education is provided after being assigned to an operating room. Scrub nurses' education includes lectures and surgical observation; however, simulation education has also been reported as effective ( Hemingway, Osgood, & Mannion, 2018 ). Nonetheless, there have been no reports demonstrating the effectiveness of simulation training in multiple clinical departments for novice nurses assigned to operating rooms.…”

Using Simulation to Teach the Scrub Person Role to Perioperative Nurses

“…The authors selected simulation training as the pedagogical method for this project, as simulation is aligned with the application of concepts and theories to augment experiential learning in a cost‐effective manner. Simulation in clinical education delivers noteworthy outcomes for its effects on technical skills (ie, knowing how to do it), 2 skill performance (ie, doing it well), 3‐5 nontechnical skills, 6,7 self‐efficacy and self‐determination, 8 learning and problem‐solving abilities, 9 clinical proficiency, 10 and clinical knowledge 11 . Using simulation to enhance learning aids in competency development.…”