ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is a common medical treatment for critically ill patients. The alarm management component of CRRT is urgent and time sensitive. Patient safety and survival rates are jeopardized if critical care nurses do not handle this situation properly. However, clinical settings cannot provide nurses with the opportunity to practice alarm management, which results in related training difficulties. Based on a survey conducted in May 2018, the rate of proper alarm management for the nurses in our CRRT unit was only 53.1%. An investigation attributed this low rate to inadequacies in standard procedures, resources for reference, opportunities for hands-on experience, professional training at different levels, immediate assistance from industry, and lack of familiarity with the purpose and handling of alarm incidents. These findings motivated our project team to improve alarm management. PURPOSE: To increase the accuracy of alarm management in CRRT critical care nurses to more than 90%. RESOLUTIONS: This project, which was implemented from September 8th, 2018 to August 31st, 2019, adopted a diverse and effective teaching strategy that included establishing standard procedures and technical tests; creating a plan for a case scenario simulation course using flipped teaching; providing scenario simulation videos; and designing online scenario simulation interactive exercises, nursing manuals, and flashcards of simplified procedures. RESULTS: The accuracy rate of proper alarm management for CCRT critical care nurses increased from 53.1% to 98.9%. CONCLUSIONS: Diverse teaching strategies may be used to effectively enhance the care provided by critical care nurses, increase patient safety, and improve the quality of care. The findings and strategies in this study may also be applied to other intensive care units.
