The American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI®) Program is the performance improvement program delivering quarterly, audiovisual coaching at the point of care to achieve sustained mastery of high-quality CPR skills. Through RQI, health care providers improve their competence and confidence to respond with lifesaving patient care.
Q1. When did the American Heart Association first introduce RQI, also known as Resuscitation Quality Improvement®?
The American Heart Association formally launched the RQI program in the spring of 2015; however, we had early hospital adoption sites during testing and development dating back to 2013.
Q2. RQI is noted as a transformative, innovative program to improve high-quality CPR performance, competency and delivery. What is the innovation that fuels the RQI program?
The innovation that really fuels the RQI program is the strategic alliance and collaborative effort of the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical bringing together a self-directed, simulation-based, mastery learning program utilizing the RQI simulation station. This approach:
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affords 24/7 accessibility on the hospital floor
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reduces hospital staff’s absence from patient care areas
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ensures competency and delivery of high-quality CPR
Q3. What are the transformative properties RQI brings to the health care industry?
RQI’s “low-dose, high-frequency” model creates validated CPR competency in health care providers to optimize the opportunity for cardiac arrest survival. We believe the reliability of the RQI program to continuously improve the health care provider’s ability to perform high-quality CPR coupled with reduced costs for the health care organization are major disruptors.
Q4. The concept of “low-dose, high-frequency” is characterized as a key RQI benefit. What is the concept and why is it important?
Research has shown that CPR skills decay after three to six months. More frequent and short training sessions advance competency and the quality of CPR. The RQI program provides quarterly CPR skills practice, for approximately 10 minutes, to eliminate “skills decay” and replace with “skills mastery.” The result is high-quality CPR performance and delivery, leading to improved patient outcomes.
Q5. RQI is described as a quality improvement program. Essentially, isn’t RQI CPR training?
RQI is much more than training. It is rooted in being a simulation-based, mastery learning program. Health care providers are continuously engaged in a quality improvement cycle, every 90 days, to improve competency and maximize their ability to provide high-quality CPR. This is a major shift when compared to the traditional “every two-year” training model.
In addition, the RQI program helps fine-tune core CPR skills that are necessary in assuring greater chances of survival. Each provider receives custom feedback based on their skill, talent and technique.
Q6. Does the RQI program bring added costs and expenses to hospital operating and administrative budgets?
Just the opposite. One of the greatest benefits of RQI is the potential for significant cost savings. Health care providers participating in RQI are no longer required to leave the patient care area to attend class to maintain their CPR competency credentials. This helps reduce the time away from their clinical responsibilities that would have warranted overtime hours and additional staff coverage. The self-directed approach can significantly reduce or eliminate costs that were previously required for instructor-facilitated training.
Q7. If you had to articulate core reasons hospitals should adopt and implement RQI, what would they be and why?
The primary reason for the adoption of RQI: patients who suffer a cardiac arrest must receive the highest quality CPR possible, which is known to be the cornerstone of survival from this lethal event. Research has consistently demonstrated that health care providers routinely fall short of delivering high-quality CPR due to a variety of factors. Those include skills decay, infrequent exposure to actual cardiac arrest events and the overall difficulty of providing and performing high-quality CPR. Providers trained in RQI have demonstrated increased confidence and willingness to respond to critical events.
We believe the formula of simulation-based learning, improved provider confidence and competency and the cost savings potential is a winning combination for patients, providers and health care organizations. The result: a culture of resuscitation excellence.
Russell Griffin works at the American Heart Association as the director of AHA Alliance Programs in Emergency Cardiovascular Care, based in Dallas, Texas. His multidisciplinary career in emergency medicine has spanned more than 23 years; he continues to work as an advanced practice flight paramedic for CareFlite in the DFW Metroplex. Russell was previously the EMS chief for the City of McKinney (Texas) Fire Department. He is also a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.