Education

Diane Blazier, RN

Kathy Delac, RN

This course is designed for all non-critical care nursing staff to improve cognitive and psychomotor skills in the initiation and management of care for a patient exhibiting signs and symptoms of declining health status.  The topics of focus include:

• Early recognition of declining patient status
• Familiarization with hospital policy for appropriate interventions
• Proper activation of the medical emergency team (MET)/code team
• Proficient management of unit personnel
• Utilization of effective communication skills

Learning Objectives

• Identify declining patient health status requiring urgent intervention.
• Execute proper first responder procedure per hospital policy.
• Perform appropriate interventions based upon patient assessment.
• Demonstrate proper techniques of basic life support in a timely manner.
• Manage unit personnel responding to urgent patient situation.
• Provide effective communication to all responders.
• Maintain accurate documentation of event.
• Give appropriate hand-off report to the transfer nurse.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants will confidently provide fast and effective first responder care before the MET or code team arrives.  This will be achieved through recognition of urgent patient events, activation of proper interventions, and demonstration of effective communication skills.

Audience

• Nursing staff