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Department
Comprehensive Clinical Care
Position/Job Title
Clinical Educators; Clinical Nurse Specialists
Description
Background: Nursing skill at identifying cardiac rhythms is assessed yearly at the hospital Skills Fair. A test is provided to all inpatient nursing staff including rhythm identification, basic cardiac measurements (intervals, rate, etc.). In 2022, all inpatient nurses were required to pass an annual telemetry assessment. Only 46.9% of inpatient nurses passed the assessment scoring 80% or higher.
Aim: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase inpatient nurses’ skills of identifying cardiac rhythms via telemetry.
Methods: The staff development educators created monthly computer-based learning (CBL) modules to bridge the gap in knowledge. All inpatient nurses were required to complete the monthly telemetry CBL modules which included educational content and was followed by a post-test. The modules were initiated in September of 2022. There was a total of eight telemetry CBL modules assigned to the nurses. The telemetry modules progressed from basic cardiac rhythm understanding to analysis and application. Each CBL module post-test required an 80% passing grade to complete. If three attempts were made by the nurse without a passing grade the nurse would remediate with the staff development educator. In 2023, following the intervention, all inpatient nurses were required to complete the same telemetry assessment from 2022 to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, at the annual Skills Fair.
Findings: The evaluation for this quality improvement project included a ten-question cardiac telemetry test (including identification of rhythms and cardiac measurements). The average inpatient nurse score for 2022 was 46.9%. In 2023, after the intervention, the average inpatient nurse score was 60.2%. This shows a 13.3% overall increase following the intervention, which included greater than 150 inpatient nurses.
Implications: The results of this quality improvement project indicated that monthly telemetry education and assessments enhanced the basic knowledge of cardiac concepts for inpatient nurses.
Publication Date
4-16-2024
Recommended Citation
Soltis, Taylor; Blair, Brooke; Rice, Jennifer; and Schmidt, Jessica, "Tele Turnaround: Improving Nursing Telemetry Assessment" (2024). 2024 Henry Ford Jackson Hospital Research Symposium. 4.
https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/hfjhrs2024/4
