In 2010-11, a Health Resource & Services Administration( HRSA) Workforce Development grant of nearly $ 500,000 was made to Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing to develop a Simulation Center. As part of the implementation plan, a strategic decision was made to approach Bon Secours Health System to seek their involvement in implementing HeartCode ®. This overture proved invaluable in gaining operational support and in extending the reach into the clinical setting. Essentially, the ability to partner with the health system – hospitals, clinics, and other providers – provided an excellent laboratory for proving the worth of the initiative.
In today’ s value-based environment, there is less room in budgets for taking staff off the floor to take part in requisite training and recertification. This fiscal reality coupled with the quality of the program resonated with the leadership at the Bon Secours system, making for a relatively easy decision to proceed at the health system level.
As a key component of the initiative, Bon Secours began working with HealthStream to implement HeartCode throughout the system. The first step in the rollout was important. The decision was made to implement the learning initiative incrementally, rather than to attempt a system-wide implementation from day one. This step-wise approach was to introduce HeartCode in eight Virginia hospitals, plus emergency rooms and physician offices in the initial rollout. This decision was key to the eventual success of the effort.
Following, in 2012, facilities in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and New York went live among approximately 28,000 employees on the East Coast – at least 50 % were trained. New hires began receiving HeartCode as part of a twoday onboarding experience.
The results had been encouraging from the beginning. Not surprisingly, perhaps, educating staff learners using this new method did require an adjustment period. That was anticipated. With educators, however, the benefits of using HeartCode became readily apparent. Educators soon saw the advantages, most notably HeartCode was an efficient and consistent way of providing adult learners with the repetition required to learn and retain new skills. Providing the requisite amount of repetition by continually scheduling time off the floor, was no longer cost-effective and this innovative delivery of content was a timely solution.
Though they adjusted relatively quickly, perhaps the biggest hurdle to clear on the part of educators was adjusting to teaching in a new way after they themselves had been taught in the more traditional, classroom setting. The natural inclination was to follow that same path and perpetuate“ the old way” of learning.
IMPACT
Bon Secours has learned and benefited from HeartCode in numerous important ways:
• Efficient record-keeping and tracking to stay current • Clear identification of staff who struggle with CPR with re-certification status. to enable reassignment of their role.
• Accurate assessments of individual learner’ s strengths and weaknesses.
• Improved staff confidence improved which leads to quicker response to a code.
• Consistent skill training across all participants.
22 HealthStream E-Book: High-Quality CPR: Breathing New Life into Your Training Program