Gamification educational intervention improves pediatric nurses' comfort and speed drawing up code-dose epinephrine

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Nursing Education
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Weight-based epinephrine dosing is critical for pediatric resuscitation.
• Non-intensive care unit (ICU) nurses may lack routine practice and confidence with this skill.
• Efficient epinephrine administration is vital during pediatric cardiac arrest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effect of a gamification program on non-ICU pediatric nurses' epinephrine knowledge and skills.
• To evaluate improvements in comfort and efficiency of epinephrine preparation during simulated pediatric cardiac arrest.

Main Methods:

• A gamification-centered educational intervention was implemented.
• Comfort and time to prepare three weight-based epinephrine doses were measured pre- and post-intervention.
• The study focused on out-of-ICU, in-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest scenarios.

Main Results:

• Nursing comfort in preparing epinephrine significantly increased from 2.93 to 6.68 (p < 0.001).
• The average time to draw up three epinephrine doses decreased by 27.1 seconds (p = 0.019).
• The proportion of nurses completing the task within 2 minutes rose from 23% to 59% (p = 0.031).

Conclusions:

• Baseline data indicated limited proficiency among non-ICU nurses in preparing multiple epinephrine doses rapidly.
• The gamification intervention effectively enhanced pediatric non-ICU nurses' comfort and speed in drawing up epinephrine.
• Widespread adoption of gamification could expedite epinephrine administration, potentially improving survival rates in pediatric cardiac arrest.