Search

Cardiac arrest is common in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is associated with poor survival. Simulation is frequently used to evaluate and train code teams with the goal of improving outcomes. All participants engaged in training on donning and doffing of personal protective equipment for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. Thereafter, simulations of in-hospital cardiac arrest of patients with COVID-19, so-called protected code blue, were conducted at a quaternary academic centre. The primary endpoint was the mean time-to-defibrillation. A total of 114 patients participated in 33 "protected code blue" simulations over 8 weeks: 10 were senior residents, 17 were attending physicians, 86 were nurses, and 5 were respiratory therapists. Mean time-to-defibrillation was 4.38 minutes. Mean time-to-room entry, time-to-intubation, time-to-first-chest compression and time-to-epinephrine were 2.77, 5.74, 6.31, and 6.20 minutes, respectively; 92.84% of the 16 criteria evaluating the proper management of patients with COVID-19 and cardiac arrest were met. Mean time-to-defibrillation was longer than guidelines-expected time during protected code blue simulations. Although adherence to the modified advanced cardiovascular life-support protocol was high, breaches that carry additional infectious risk and reduce the efficacy of the resuscitation team were observed., (Copyright © 2021 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

• Nurses need situation awareness to detect early signs of deterioration. • Eye-tracking is a promising alternative to measure nurses' situation awareness. • Before the cardiac arrest, designated nurses focused on the patient and monitor. • Teammates checked the patient and monitor less frequently and more briefly. • Designated nurses had higher situation awareness than teammates. Eye tracking has emerged as a new technology for assessing nurses' visual attention in simulation, but its relationship with situation awareness, a precursor to clinical decision-making, remains to be defined. This study compared role-based situation awareness and visual attention using eye-tracking in simulation. Newly hired nurses participated in a cardiac arrest simulation as part of an orientation program. Eye-tracking data were collected to assess visual attention during the prearrest period. Participants completed a situation awareness questionnaire after the simulation. Data were compared according to participants' roles in the simulation. Results suggest a role-based difference in nurses' visual attention and situation awareness: designated nurses (n = 12) looked at the patient more often, for longer periods and were more aware of signs of patient deterioration than teammates (n = 14). : This study was the first to combine eye-tracking and situation awareness data to compare two nursing roles during a precardiac arrest simulation. The findings also suggest gaps and learning needs in nurses' understanding of signs of patient deterioration and other nontechnical skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]