| | DECEMBER - 20209UTLOOKHealthcare Tech on a monthly basis since 2014. All SICU staff and cardiac surgery Advanced Practice Providers (APPs -- Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners) are required to rotate through the course. This results in a biannual exposure for the SICU nurses and a quarterly practice opportunity for the APPs, who serve 24/7 as first responders to post op cardiac surgery patients. In 2015, members of the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (MSTCVS) proposed that all Michigan cardiovascular surgery programs travel to St. Joe's in Ann Arbor to receive instruction on implementing protocols at their own institutions. As the St. Joe's simulation program became more involved and officially trained by the CSU-ALS, NA organization, the program was recognized as an Accredited Center, awarding official certification to St. Joe's SICU staff who participated in the monthly sessions.In 2018, we were recognized at the national meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons by then-president Dr. Richard Prager. In his address, he suggested that all cardiac surgery programs implement training for their postoperative care units. Later that year, St. Joe's was designated as a Center of Excellence for achieving CSU-ALS certification in greater than 90 percent of cardiac surgery providers and ICU staff. This designation officially qualified our training sessions to teams from other hospitals. These external courses are offered on a quarterly basis and have had participants from multiple institutions throughout Michigan and the upper Midwest. While it is intuitive that "practice makes perfect" for individuals learning new skills, we have definitely seen it enhance team function. It also yields improved respect between disciplines, which impacts the efficiency of all care provided. One nurse put it very much in perspective when she stated: "The monthly training surrounding cardiac surgery has had a spillover effect on all the care we provide. During emergencies of any kind, we now automatically identify individual roles very rapidly, which reduces chaos and improves efficiency in all of our resuscitations."Every experience is an experience, and even though it's not a real patient, it reminds everyone of the basic procedures and what needs to be done to optimize the outcome when it is a real patient whose life is measured in minutes. HTEvery experience is an experience, and even though it's not a real patient, it reminds everyone of the basic procedures and what needs to be done to optimize the outcome when it is a real patient whose life is measured in minutes"
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