Crash Cart Training

[liljd, BSN]

How do other clinics handle crash cart training? Do you teach all staff how to use the ambubags and oral airways? I've been at my clinic for over a year now and have inherited certain responsibilities I've never been trained on. When I first stepped in as a new graduate nurse desperate to get a job as an HRSA Nurse Corps Scholarship recipient, I didn't have an identified role of what I would be doing by my supervisor. I was told we would be getting a Director of Clinical Services since i got hired, but that has never happened. I have been in charge of maintaining our crash carts, lead our infection control program, lead our Joint Commission accreditation maintenance, do chart audits, and provide direct patient care. I have changed our policy for our crash carts by doing a risk assessment and got rid of all IV supplies since we aren't too far from a hospital. What more should I do in regards to training for my employees when i haven't received any training on the cart except in checking off the supplies?

[klone, MSN, RN]

We don't have a crash cart, per se. We have BLS training annually, and bag-mask and AED competencies are checked at that time. We do not do ACLS at our clinic. CORs are treated as they are elsewhere in the community - call 911, provide BLS until paramedics arrive.

[brownbook]

Yes Yes Yes to what Klone posted.... basic BLS saves lives....having an AED saves lives.....employees fumbling through drawers on a crash cart, trying to use a defibrillator, can be a three ring circus even in acute care hospitals with trained ICU staff.

Can you get rid of that thing...just be sure staff have BLS, and an AED?

[marshmallowstar, BSN, RN]

We have a med box with basic meds, IM epi and Benadryl since we give allergy injections, sublingual nitro, aspirin, narcan and IM Valium. Only nurses administer meds from med box. O2, again only administered by nurse. We have an emergency box that has glucometer, pulse ox and ambu bag. We don't do separate competencies for ambu bag as everyone is healthcare BLS certified and its part of that certification. We also have AEDs.