Undergraduate Student Nurse ACLS Certification to Improve Practice Transition and Confidence

Purpose: The presentation synthesizes data on the impact of the in-class simulation experience in collaboration with a leveled code blue curriculum. The specific area of interest is the ability of the nursing student to recognize and assess the deteriorating patient. It is through the swift acknowledgement of such life-threatening situations, that the development of code blue critical thinking can begin. In conjunction with simulation and a leveled code blue curriculum, the inclusion of an ACLS certification will facilitate student confidence for transition into clinical practice. The development of the Code Blue Self-Confidence survey was created to determine participant comfortability and anxiety with code blue processes.

Methods: An exploratory, single group design with a convenience sample of 89 BSN senior nursing students enrolled in the 3-credit, seventh semester medical-surgical, didactic nursing course. A quantitative pre- and post-test with Pearson Correlation as split-half reliability check. A t-test for equality of means measured the difference in comfortability and anxiety between variables.

Variables: Variables included age, gender, race, exposure to code blue events in the clinical and work settings, and previous years of health care experience.

Results: The modified 12-item survey, Code Blue Self-Confidence, assessed participant code blue confidence pre- and post-intervention. Favorable findings for pre-test included a Chronbach’s Alpha = .750 and Factor Analysis= LOE>.631. Post-test Chronbach’s Alpha= .237 and Factor Analysis= LOE>.754. A demographic survey was utilized to measure orrelative data with code blue skill confidence. It was determined that there was an inverse correlation between comfortability and anxiety (r=.444, p=.199). Lastly, the t-test for equality of means was not statistically significant between variables of gender, age, previous healthcare experience, and specialty certifications.

Conclusion: Correlative findings revealed a significant improvement in student confidence with recognizing and intervening with the deteriorating patient to ensure swift implementation of code blue processes. The improved self-confidence was pivotal for successful completion of an ACLS certification in eight semester.