CVME Insider: Nursing Knowledge That Matters

In today's healthcare landscape, professionals are continuously seeking ways to enhance their life-saving skills , manage their time effectively, and stay within budget. Heart Code courses —whether you're certifying in BLS , ACLS , or PALS —are emerging as the top solution for professionals looking to stay current. These courses offer a flexible, effective, and cost-efficient approach to healthcare certifications, making them the ideal choice for today’s fast-paced medical environment. 1. Effective Skill Development with Heart Code Healthcare professionals need consistent, up-to-date training to maintain life-saving skills . Heart Code courses use interactive, online learning paired with hands-on skills testing to ensure professionals retain the most critical information. The engaging, scenario-based format means that learners can practice repeatedly until they achieve confidence in emergency situations. This method of learning is particularly beneficial for those loo...

Mental Health and Medicare: Know Your Options to Get the Care You Need Authored by Teresa Greenhill Medicare is an invaluable benefit for seniors or those with disabilities, but navigating the process of enrolling and understanding benefits isn’t always easy. Even if you start to get the hang of Medicare basics, coverage can still be confusing. This is especially true when it comes to mental health coverage . While individual screenings are covered and other care is not, it's essential for anyone accessing Medicare to know what's available to them so they can get the mental health care treatment — or any other treatment — they need to live life to the fullest. Understanding Your Options Anyone who has Medicare is eligible for some mental health screenings and treatment, but the type of care and the cost varies depending on your plan. If you have Original Medicare (Medicare Part A and B), you can get a free depression screening each year through your prim...

Did You Document? This is one of the biggest issues we face in nursing.  I truly feel nurses are awesome at what we do when it comes to actual hands-on.  However, when it comes to documentation; We Suck !   Every nurse I know and have worked with; I would say that less than half; has ever wondered about the legal ramifications of an in-hospital cardiac arrest (code blue). Code blue events happen fast, and documenting the entire event correctly may be a difficult and daunting task. Unfortunately,  in today's nursing environment; especially with the arrival of the EHR(electronic health record) nurses are becoming more vulnerable to legal actions. If you don't document it wasn't done.    Yeah Yeah!!  I know you have heard that a million times; but do you really listen? N urses are being named defendants in malpractice lawsuits, according to the Nurses Service Organization (NSO).  " Of the 549 nurse...

IT's COMING!! January 2018 The AHA's eCards will be mandatory starting January 2018. If you are not ready; then get ready.   Visit http://heart.org/cpr/mycards -- Electronic course completion cards Beginning January 1, 2018, all US-based AHA Training Centers will be required to use AHA's ecards for the issuance of course completion cards to providers and students who successfully complete the requirements of AHA courses. eCards reduce the risk of counterfeits, improve the efficiency of card management, ensure the identity of the issuing TC and Instructor, and allow students to store proof of their course completion electronically. This will be a significant change for students & providers The American Heart Association eCards offer a simple, secure, and efficient way to provide students with their credentials after they complete a course. eCard features and benefits : Electronic course completion cards are viewable online, and offer a...

2015 ACLS Summary of Key Issues and Major Changes Vasopressors for Resuscitation : Vasopressin 2015 ( Updated ) : Vasopressin in combination with epinephrine offers no advantage as a substitute for standard-dose epinephrine in cardiac arrest. 2010 ( Old ): One dose of vasopressin 40 units IV/ intraosseously may replace either the first or second dose of epinephrine in the treatment of cardiac arrest. Why: Both epinephrine and vasopressin administration during cardiac arrest have been shown to improve ROSC. Review of the available evidence shows that efficacy of the 2 drugs is similar and that there is no demonstrable benefit from administering both epinephrine and vasopressin as compared with epinephrine alone. In the interest of simplicity, vasopressin has been removed from the Adult Cardiac Arrest Algorithm. ETCO2 for Prediction of Failed Resuscitation 2015 ( New ): In intubated patients, failure to achieve an ETCO2 of greater than 10 mm Hg by waveform capnog...

We have been teaching CPR , ACLS , and PALS for over 5 years now and I always get the same complaint from many students.  "Why do we have to watch those stupid videos?"  We know that some of the videos you watch can be boring or repetitive; however, there is a madness behind the methods from the American Heart Association. A recent student from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania finds "using a video to train members of patients at risk for cardiac arrest in CPR may be just as effective as using the traditional hands-on method with a manikin." "The findings suggest simplified and more cost-effective approaches may be useful for disseminating CPR education to families of at-risk patients and the general public. The results are being presented during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015." (Abella, MD, MPhil) The cardiac arrests in the United States are typically responded and treat...

" American Heart Association   Scientific Statement" March 31, 2015  Categories:  Heart News ,  Scientific Statements/Guidelines Statement Highlights Three professional organizations have issued a joint statement on treating high blood pressure in people who have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, stroke or other forms of heart disease. The statement reinforces the goal of reducing blood pressure to under 140/90 in order to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Patients should know their blood pressure, make lifestyle changes to reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke, and work with a physician to safely lower their blood pressure. This article was published in DALLAS, Texas on  March 31, 2015 .  The American Heart Association came out and discussed a new scientific statement issued jointly by three medical organizations and published in the American Heart Association’s journal  Hypertension ,...

Does Your Hospital Use the  The Surviving Sepsis Campaign ? This c ampaign  was created to help healthcare workers implement the recommended guidelines for Severe Sepsis patients in the Emergency Room (ER) and Intensive Care Units (ICU).  The  Surviving Sepsis Campaign  kits include posters, pocket guides, bundle cards, lapel pins and a list of resources to aid your implementation efforts using the most recent edition of the international sepsis guidelines.   The Surviving Sepsis Campaign has developed pre-packaged kits to help clinicians within institutions to improve sepsis identification, management and treatment.   "The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) partnered with the Institute for Healthcare  Improvement (IHI) to incorporate its “bundle concept” into the diagnosis and treatment  of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. We believe that improvement in  the delivery of care should be measured one patient a...

Full Code Pro App   The AHA’s Full Code Pro App (FCP 3.0) is a free, easy-to-use, mobile application that allows healthcare providers to quickly document critical interventions during cardiac arrest resuscitation events. This app enables providers to focus on the patient without sacrificing proper documentation. This application allows medical professionals to use it in a real-time code.  It allows the medical professional the ability to record the entire code easily. It can also simplify data entry and helps providers increase the availability and accuracy of documentation. The information that providers log enables more robust data for review, debriefing and resuscitation quality improvement . The AHA's Full Code App may be used by paramedics, EMT-Bs, emergency room nurses, emergency room physicians and other in- and out-of-hospital healthcare providers.   In using this application the medical provider can make notes, keep track of sho...

  This June, in honor of National CPR Week , the American Heart Association is calling on all Americans to learn how to give Hands-Only® CPR by watching a simple one-minute video. Once you have learned CPR, give 5 people you care and love about the same  power you just learned to help  save a life by passing on that knowledge to them to act quickly in a crisis. Don’t be afraid; your inability to  act cannot help . If you see an unresponsive adult who is not breathing or not breathing normally, call 911 and push hard and fast on the center of the chest. WHY LEARN CPR ? Cardiac arrests are more common than you think, and they can happen to anyone at any time.  More than 383,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually, and 88 percent of those cardiac arrests occur at home. Most victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors. Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. Sudden cardiac arr...