March 1, 2022
According to the National League for Nursing (NLN), patients receive poor-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation more than 50% of the time, despite the best efforts of motivated health care professionals. Ursuline College is an early adopter of a new program aiming to improve those numbers. The College’s Breen School of Nursing and Health Professions will be one of the first nursing programs in the country – and the only program in Northern Ohio – to adopt a new educational program to ensure competency in CPR.
The NLN has announced it has selected the Breen School as Change Agent for the Resuscitation Quality Improvement® (RQI®) program to ensure that students will maintain a high level of competency in patient resuscitation. The 40,000-member-strong nursing organization announced its Change Agents at a virtual event on March 1, titled “Celebrating a New Era in Healthcare Education.”
“As an early adopter of this important education, our faculty have once again demonstrated initiative and innovation in nursing education with a focus on preparing safe, competent nurses for future clinical practice,” said Patricia A. Sharpnack DNP, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, ANEF, FAAN, Dean and Strawbridge Professor, Breen School of Nursing and Health Professions.
NLN, the premier professional organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education, and its partner Laerdal Medical, announced this new RQI® partnership to help prepare future nursing professionals to respond to cardiac arrest events competently and confidently — leading to improvement in survival rates.
RQI®’s digital approach helps learners achieve sustained mastery of high-quality CPR skills and verified competence through short, quarterly practice and review sessions. The program is co-developed by Laerdal Medical, one of the world leaders in medical simulation and resuscitation training, and the American Heart Association.
John Meiners, American Heart Association chief of mission-aligned businesses and healthcare solutions, said research supports the effectiveness of more frequent learning experiences to master high-quality CPR. “We’re excited to explore how nursing education programs in our nation’s colleges and universities can embrace RQI® to offer students a new, unique pathway to verified CPR competence and position them for greater lifesaving potential.”
The March 1 event featured remarks by NLN President & CEO Dr. Beverly Malone, Laerdal CEO Alf-Christian Dybdahl, and RQI Partners CEO Brian Eigel. Dr. Marilyn Oermann, with Duke University School of Nursing, and Dr. Suzan Kardong-Edgren, with MGH Institute of Health Professions, discussed the significance of this milestone and the research they have conducted.
