As of 2022, critical access hospitals and hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission need to follow new and revised requirements for resuscitation care during and after cardiac arrest.
The Joint Commission outlined the goal of these changes as “…reducing unnecessary variations in practice and requiring hospitals to adopt a more proactive internal review of data…”
“The new and revised requirements aim to strengthen resuscitation and post-resuscitation care processes by reducing unnecessary variations in practice and requiring hospitals to adopt a more proactive internal review of data to seek continuous learning improvements in order to maximize patient survival with the best possible neurological outcomes.”
Source: The Joint Commission – June 2021
Survival rates after in-hospital cardiac arrest vary greatly across the U.S., as do the practices for tracking cardiac arrest outcomes. The new resuscitation standards from The Joint Commission are intended to standardize the following factors cited as critical to resuscitation care:
- Ongoing education and training for hospital staff
- Adherence to evidence-based protocols for post-resuscitation care
- Collecting and analyzing data to monitor the hospital’s cardiac arrest performance
Paul Chan, cardiologist and researcher at Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute, and member of The Joint Commission’s Technical Advisory Panel, shared his perspective on the new standards and why they are important.
“The goal is to provide systematic, standardized care for patients, so it’s not up to the whim of the person taking care of the patient on that day,” Chan said.
Training and Guidance on Any Device, Anytime
The Redivus resuscitation software platform can assist hospitals in meeting The Joint Commission’s new resuscitation guidelines and standards. Redivus software provides a streamlined way to support resuscitation and rapid response teams with evidence-based guidance, automated documentation, and comprehensive cardiac arrest analytics.
The Redivus resuscitation app can be used to run cardiac arrest simulations and to practice a provider’s individual response during a cardiac arrest event. The code blue app can be launched on any device – phone, tablet, or computer workstation – and it works with or without an internet connection.
“Training is important because there is so much variation in how often, if at all, training on ACLS and running mock codes occurs,” Chan said. “We do know people fall out of practice quickly, because codes are infrequent and unscheduled, so that level of education and preparation is hard to keep at a high standard without ongoing training and education.”
During an actual cardiac arrest, Redivus resuscitation software provides on-screen prompts for each step of the ACLS guidelines and automatically documents every intervention in real time. The Redivus app is updated with the latest evidence-based standards for adult (ACLS) and pediatric (PALS) cardiac arrest.
Redivus can also be used for guidance and documentation during return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and during cases of respiratory arrest.
Robust Cardiac Arrest Data Collection and Analysis
As the Redivus resuscitation app documents and time stamps every intervention during a code blue, that automated data is captured and collected for every cardiac arrest case across the hospital. The hospital’s data is securely compiled into in-depth reporting through the Redivus analytics dashboard. (The resuscitation documentation can also sync with the patient’s record in the hospital EMR, saving significant charting time.)
Redivus Health Resuscitation Software Platform
The Redivus analytics report can be used immediately for post-event debriefs or code blue review sessions, without any extra work from hospital staff. This dashboard helps to identify clinical insights for quality improvement and simplifies internal and external reporting, saving time and resources while improving the quality of data collected.
“Having a code blue review of patients and outcomes reduces variability of care,” Chan explained. “If a hospital is not reviewing cases, it’s tough to improve and hard to know where the gaps may be. Hospitals need to both collect and review their data to learn and improve.”
To learn more about how Redivus Code Blue can help your hospital meet The Joint Commission’s resuscitation standards, schedule a demo.
