On Thursday, September 23rd, the National League for Nursing (NLN), the premier professional organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education, and its partner Laerdal Medical announced a new partnership to integrate the RQI digital resuscitation program into nursing curricula nationwide.
“With great excitement, I announce the advancement of the mission that we share with every member … to achieve excellence in nursing, a landmark transformative quality improvement collaboration with RQI Partners,” announced NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN.
“With no additional cost to the institution, and with repetitive, easy access for students and faculty to an essential skill for saving lives, we offer with our partners the RQI program. Adoption of this innovative technology … will help nursing programs prepare their nurses with resuscitation competence and maximize the lifesaving ability of nurses and other healthcare providers,” added Malone.
“Adoption of this innovative technology … will help nursing programs prepare their nurses with resuscitation competence and maximize the lifesaving ability of nurses and other healthcare providers.”
The National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. With over 1,200 institutional members and 40,000 individual members across the country, the NLN represents a diverse base of higher education and healthcare leaders engaging with professional development, research, and public policy initiatives.
Two Decades of Historic Partnerships
The League’s latest professional collaboration comes after almost 20 years of program partnership between the NLN and Laerdal Medical. In 2006, Pam Jeffries, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH spearheaded an innovative research project supported by the NLN and Laerdal Medical that focused upon faculty development in simulation pedagogy and implementation.
Her research directly led to further simulation education advancements. By 2008, the Simulation Innovation and Resource Center (SIRC) launched online with simulation educators from the United States, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Norway, and Scotland. Shortly thereafter, the VSIM® for Nursing program launched, integrating the virtual simulation suite into the full nursing curricula of NLN-member institutions.
Nursing education and resuscitation leaders partner to help accelerate transformation of standard of care for cardiac arrest resuscitation.
Groundbreaking Research Inspiration
The shared commitment by Laerdal Medical and the NLN to the development of nurse competence and confidence resulted in the NLN’s support of Dr. Marilyn Oermann’s groundbreaking 2010 University of North Carolina study regarding low-dose, high-frequency basic life support skill performance.
“Our first study was a multi-site design with over 600 nursing students. We studied curriculum dosing, the effect of monthly practice on nursing students’ CPR psychomotor skills performance. We found in the seminal study that low-dose, high-frequency three-month cycles were optimal for knowledge and skill retention, and eliminated skills decay for nursing students,” explained Marilyn Oermann, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN.
Oermann’s research influenced Cole Edmonson, DNP, FAAN, former Chief Nursing Officer for Texas Health Presbyterian and current NLN Foundation Chair. “Dr. Oermann’s studies had a strong influence on my decision to bring low-dose, high-frequency self-directed BLS learning to Texas Health … We were proud to be one of the six early adopter hospitals of the RQI program,” noted Edmonson.
Powerful Life-Saving Potential
Laerdal Medical CEO Alf-Christian Dybdahl explained that early results estimated the RQI program would save approximately 10 lives per year, per hospital. RQI Partners currently hosts over 2,400 healthcare organizations who have adopted the portfolio for BLS, ALS, and PALS learning. The integration of the RQI learning platform into nursing curricula will ensure that nursing students are prepared to enter clinical practice with life-saving competence of resuscitation excellence.
Dybdahl shared the powerful potential of the collaboration, noting, “More than 2 million nurses per year are enrolled in education programs, but most importantly, conservative estimates suggest that nurses participating in the programs have saved more than 20,000 additional lives. Yes, 20,000 lives saved by competent and confident nurses.”
To learn more about the new partnership, click here.
