Skip to main content

Education, Simulation Training Prepares Staff for Emergency Resternotomy

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on June 6, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 6, 2024 -- Education and simulation training can improve staff comfort and familiarity with emergency resternotomy in the intensive care unit due to cardiac arrest after cardiac surgery, according to a study published online June 1 in Critical Care Nurse.

Athanasios Tsiouris, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, and colleagues established and improved protocols for emergency resternotomy following suboptimal performance and outcome resulting from an emergency intensive care unit resternotomy. To improve staff comfort and familiarity with needed techniques and supplies, education and simulation training were used. To assess familiarity with implemented plans and algorithms, preintervention and postintervention surveys were administered. Forty-four participants completed the preintervention survey, and 41 completed the postintervention survey.

The researchers found that 95 percent of respondents agreed that they were prepared to be members of the team for an emergency intensive care unit sternotomy after the intervention compared with 52 percent before the intervention. Ninety-five percent strongly agreed or agreed that they could identify patients who might need emergency sternotomy after the intervention compared with 50 percent before. Improvement was seen in staff members' understanding of team roles, activation, and use of the emergency sternotomy protocol.

"Cardiac arrest after cardiac surgery can be a chaotic event, even for experienced nurses and physicians. Preparing for this event is difficult given its rarity," the authors write. "Our quality improvement project suggests that simulation training improves staff comfort with and understanding of these events."

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Longer Exposure to Antidepressants Increases Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death

WEDNESDAY, April 16, 2025 -- Exposure time to antidepressants in adults is associated with a higher risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD), according to a study presented at the...

ACC: Cardiac Arrest Incidence at Long-Distance Races Remains Stable

WEDNESDAY, April 2, 2025 -- Despite increased participation in U.S. long-distance running races, cardiac arrest incidence remains stable, according to a study published online...

Speed of Resuscitation Critical to Survival Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest Events

MONDAY, March 31, 2025 -- For patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), the proportion receiving layperson bystander life support (BLS) has increased, but a critical...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.