Getting a Feel for Better Infection Control

Nurse Training Important to Reduce Hospital Acquired Infections

For every one hundred patients admitted to hospitals for the year 2002, 4.5 patients developed a  hospital-acquired infection (HAI) (Graves & McGowan, 2008), and many experts believe the percentage has risen in recent years. Under new CMS guidelines, providers may risk partial or full denial of reimbursement for procedures where staff medical errors such as infections arise from a lack of training. With an IV catheter infection estimated to cost $100,000 in hospital care, clinical directors understand the need to improve nurse training and proficiency as an HAI risk-management activity and as a critical element of quality care and meeting patient safety goals.

As a result, healthcare organizations are exploring new options for training as part of their efforts to address the problem of infection control. One of the new options for training nurses includes advanced computer-based simulation—an approach previously used mainly in training surgical residents on specialized procedures or devices.


Practice Vs. Reality with “Dummies”
 
The market for medical simulation is estimated to reach $1.5 billion by 2012 (Quinn, 2010), with the dominant share of the market currently comprised of mannequin-based training for nurses and medics, along with specialized training developers. Training with mannequins at simulation centers has become a routine and valuable part of healthcare provider efforts to address patient safety both for training nurses new to a specific procedure as well as providing continuing education for experienced nurses. This is particularly true as so-called “dummies” have become increasingly high-tech with electronic displays, sensors, and readouts.
Yet mannequins have limits in their ability to address the full instructional experience of procedures. They cannot provide a learning experience that includes what a procedure “feels like” when performed on the internal organs of a patient. Achieving such experiential muscle memory is paramount to achieving proficiency in the specific procedure, as well as deeply learning every step in the process—from the first step of correctly cleansing the area to be treated, to the last step of properly applying the dressing and disposing of any waste. 


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