The NZRC conducted a review of CORE earlier this year and the result is a change to the resuscitation courses delivered by accredited NZRC instructors. Resuscitation Skills will start delivering the new courses as soon as they 'come on-line' from the NZRC. The courses have been simplified and new reading resources have been developed. Essentially the "level" system will disappear and two levels of resuscitation courses take their place as well as the option to attend a non-assessed modular skills programme.

• CORE Immediate
• CORE Advanced
• CORE Skills

The NZRC has provided an implementation explanation of how each course meets the needs of the previous provider levels. Click the NZRC Icon below to read more...

Medical crises are in the main unexpected events that create a unique set of challenges to a health care team. There are  multiple physical tasks to complete and the mental demands for even experienced individuals can be over whelming. These demands include:

• Extreme time pressures
• Information over load
• An uncertain clinical diagnosis and the effects of our treatment
• Uncertainty about the skills and abilities of the resuscitation team
• Challenge group dynamics as individuals react differently under duress
• Team members deploy to a crises at different times and arrive at different times
• Events that occur infrequently require seldom used skills and knowledge to problem solve commonly driving solutions that are "rule based" and these rules are seldom used creating cognitive challenges for a team leader 

Good team work is no accident. It is a co-operative effort of the team members to achieve a common goal. That goal in resuscitation is delivering good resuscitation practice to achieve the best possible clinical outcome for the individual patient involved.

Providing good team work is not as easy as it sounds and like any team (for example a sports team), developing individual technical skills forms only part of the picture. The team needs effective leadership, structure, communication patterns and an appreciation of how and when each required task should be performed to reach the end goal of a successful resuscitation.  The skills and behaviors to lead a team differs from those required to be an effective team player and while this presents a unique challenge to training teams it also presents an opportunity for all providers to have an appreciation of how their own behavior contributes to effective team work, to provide the best possible outcomes for the patient. 

While various skills and behaviors that contribute to effective team work can be disseminated and taught to individuals there can be little doubt that team performance is best improved when a team trains together.  Effective teams train together. They train together in the space they will need to perform with the equipment they have to use. 

Resuscitation Skills provides such training. We take a high fidelity patient simulator into your work space and rehearse a medical crises. Not only are technical skills such as using a defibrillator and performing CPR practiced but all the elements of developing good team leadership and effective team player skills and behaviors are coached, critiques and developed so your team is better prepared for such events.  

Check out this service by clicking on the picture below. Its surprisingly cost effective! 

Also, watch this space for the release of our specialized course Team Resource Management. A course specifically developed for Urgent Care doctors or any acute care provider to develop improved team leadership performance during a medical crises: Due for availability in early 2017.

Regards

[email protected]

Pre-Course Learning Makes Impact

Our online pre-course learning package was implemented over a month ago and our results to date prove this learning strategy is making an impact.

All course participants gain access to the package when they enroll on any of our advanced life support courses. The software sends as progress updates so we can see a participant's progress and their over all results.

Material includes:

• Review of the basic life support guidelines
• Review of Anaphylaxis management
• ECG recognition
• A 50 question assessment that provides instant results and prompts/ links to material for further learning needs if required

What we've noticed

• Less need to discuss changes to basic life support means more hands on practice
• Less need to review recognition of life threatening arrhythmia means more time in simulation
• A great under standing of the management of anaphylaxis means improved management during simulation (including earlier administration of adrenaline, statement of stridor and more complex management such as inotropic support implemented)
• An opportunity to immediately practice effective team leadership tools during simulation from knowledge gained prior to attending course

Feedback

Here's some feedback from recent participants:

...pre-course online reading is very helpful.

Useful use of pre-course e-learning material, more hands on time.

...on-line ECG was great

The quiz was good- perhaps some recommended links relevant to particular questions maybe helpful

Pre-course material was very useful. It had precise information and easy to remember. ECG video easy to follow and remember.

The Future

We're adding more and more modules to our pre-course package. The vision is to dramatically increase hands on simulation time during our courses and enhance individual performance as well as develop team performance. Remember once participants are enrolled, access to the material is open and on going meaning participants can visit the package as often as the desire to refresh knowledge at any time.

Check out our Free sample packages

Interactive Decision Making Simulator

For those who enroll in all of our ALS courses you will now have access to decision making simulators to put into practice your knowledge of the ALS algorithm. A scenario is presented and you need to make the right decisions to successfully negotiate the simulation to get 100%.

At this stage we have built a decision making simulator for a VF/VT arrest but more are on the way including a paediatric advanced life support simulation.

The opening screen presents the situation. Questions about your next planned actions are asked. 

If you're right you receive instant feedback and increase your score. If you're wrong you are prompted to try again until you get it right.

At Resuscitation Skills we support the use of cognitive aids for use during medical crises. It is envisioned these learning tools will assist participants cement critical knowledge for use during a medical crisis such as cardiac arrest.

These tools are part of our commitment to innovation and providing high quality training. We hope they are useful.

New Zealand Resuscitation Council 2018

Conference Website

Click on the image below to check out the 2018 NZRC Conference!

Advanced Life Support Courses 2018

We've put together an exciting course calender for 2018 with more Advanced Life Support refresher courses, more NZRC CORE ADVANCED and IMMEDIATE courses and several dates for our new 2-day version of ACLS and PALS.

Look on our website under "Our Courses" to find out more!

Don't forget we have the ability to run courses on-site and tailor make on-site simulation sessions so your team can practice dealing with emergencies in your work space.

Later in 2018 we will be launching a new courses : Advanced Life Support in Remote Settings.

This course is specifically designed for clinicians operating in austere or remote settings and will focus on the challenges on providing Advanced Life Support with little resource supported by tele-medicine. This new and exciting course will be facilitated in a remote setting in New Zealand offering the opportunity to practice skills in a realistic remote settings.