Assisted Ventilation Education??

[figiwigi]

Hi, I work in a very large NICU and we have 20 level 3 beds with over flow of CPAP into our level two. We are always short staffed and the staff we have are often new or have limited experience looking after ventilated prems.

I was wondering if you could share what your unit does in regards to educating staff on neonatal ventilation as this is an area we do not do overly well and I would like to implement some changes in our clinical development department

Thanks

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

It is included as hands-on education as part of unit orientation. I learned 99% of what I know from bugging a few awesome RTs with questions for 2 years. They really are the best resource.

[UTVOL3]

Yep. Most, if not all of the training on vents comes from the RRT's and experienced nurses at bedside.

[littleneoRN]

We get four hours of class on neonatal mechanical ventilation and another four hours on trachs (with and without vents). Of course most of what you learn is at the bedside and from the amazing RTs, but I loved my class. There are also continuing education classes related to vents here and there.

[RN4Little1s]

We had about a 4 hour class in orientation. We learned more then by taking these patients on the unit with a preceptor. The most I learned was from the 2nd class, taught by RTs. I think there are two different skills - learning about the actual workings of the ventilator, the modes, and settings... Then there is actually learning about oxygenation and ventiliation in relation to the changes made in ventilator settings - you need to know when to question a crazy vent change.

[figiwigi]

Thanks for the replys .. we also learn alot from the bedside and drs etc .. however I feel there needs to be specific learning resources i.e self directed learning packages / resource files etc. We have an online website however it goes into ventilations far to deeply for our new staff to understand. When I am co-ordinating a shift and i have a sick neonate admitted I want to know that the junior nurse can at least know to question that crazy vent chnage if i am tied up ... and with 20 plus icu pts some times you just cant be every where at once :)

I am doing a QI audit on this topic and just wanted to guage what resources other units used for ideas

[Preemienurse23]

We have a class on the vents in our orientation and we take care of them during out internship. But the higher vents (HPOV, jet, nitric) we don't get until we have experience. I had one that was on the HPOV and we put her on the Jet today, and I was nervous. I had my RT's, but its hard to ask questions about a vent that I have used over a year ago, on my internship, when your parent is there. I learned what I know from my experenced nurses and RT's.