Use of a High-Fidelity Patient Simulator to Introduce an Evidence-Based Emergency Manual into Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Practice

Abstract

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) administer anesthesia care to thousands of patients each year. Despite increased anesthetic safety, low-frequency, high-risk perioperative critical events still occur. Although CRNAs have been expected to rely on memory alone to manage the spectrum of these critical events, the use of an emergency manual (EM) may improve CRNA performance. At one Army community hospital, recent experiences with similar critical events led to the development of the following question: Will the use of high-fidelity simulation training with the staff CRNAs on the use of EMs produce both increased performance in key tasks and positive satisfaction scores related to the use of the emergency manual during critical events now and in the future? Twenty staff CRNAs participated in high-fidelity simulated scenarios involving low-frequency, high-risk critical events before and after training on the use of an EM based on a change strategy developed by Goldhaber-Fiebert and Howard in 2012. Changes in performance after training were evaluated using a tool designed by Arriaga et al. Before EM training, CRNAs completed 46.05% of key tasks in the simulated scenario. After EM training, CRNAs completed up to 94.02% of key tasks in simulated scenarios. The observed increase in the completion of key tasks by CRNAs during simulated critical events after EM training and increase in satisfaction scores demonstrates how a well-constructed training program facilitates the implementation of an evidence-based EM into practice and can improve the quality and consistency of CRNA performance during low-frequency, high-risk perioperative events.