Carolina Tennyson, assistant professor, presented the poster "An Interprofessional Approach to Standardizing Family Care during Code Blue Events" during the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium. 

Abstract

Introduction: The development of a standardized practice for family care during resuscitation (FPDR) events was identified as an area for quality improvement at a large academic hospital. Healthcare Chaplains were identified as ideal Family Facilitators for FPDR due to their professional training in therapeutic communication and existential crisis management as well as their current practice of responding to all Code Blue events. An interprofessional workgroup developed guidelines to delineate the role of Chaplain as Family Facilitator in Code Blue events and created an interprofessional education simulation (IPE-sim) training curriculum for their dissemination. 

Methods: The workgroup, which included an acute care nurse practitioner in the nursing faculty, a palliative care physician, and the director of Chaplain Services, conducted a thorough review of FPDR literature, analyzed data on Chaplain care provided at Code Blue events over the past 9 years, and entered into dialogue with stakeholders regarding FPDR. The group authored guidelines which were adopted as an addendum to the institution’s existing Code Blue policy. The workgroup collaborated with the Code Blue team to develop simulation training events to ensure proper application of the new guidelines.

Results: This work resulted in the addition of FPDR guidelines to the existing Code Blue policy and the creation of a FPDR flowchart that standardized the Chaplain role in Code Blue events by delineating a communication process as well as FPDR inclusion and exclusion criteria. The implementation of this work was facilitated through three 4-hour IPE-sim training sessions.

Conclusions: Standardized FPDR guidelines pertaining to the role of Chaplain as Family Facilitator can improve patient- and family-centered care. Institutional FPDR guidelines should be created by an interprofessional team and vetted by multidisciplinary stakeholders. Simulation-enhanced IPE is one way to expose teams to patient-centered care and interprofessional collaboration during Code Blue events.