Use of Simulation-Based Medical Education for Advanced Resuscitation of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients With Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19

Cardiac arrest is common in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associated poor survival. Simulation frequently used to evaluate train code teams the goal of improving outcomes. All participants engaged training on donning doffing personal protective equipment for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. Thereafter, simulations in-hospital cardiac COVID-19, so-called protected blue, were conducted at a quaternary academic centre. The primary endpoint was mean time-to-defibrillation. A total 114 participated 33 “protected blue” over 8 weeks: 10 senior residents, 17 attending physicians, 86 nurses, 5 respiratory therapists. Mean time-to-defibrillation 4.38 minutes. time-to-room entry, time-to-intubation, time-to-first-chest compression time-to-epinephrine 2.77, 5.74, 6.31, 6.20 minutes, respectively; 92.84% 16 criteria evaluating proper management met. longer than guidelines-expected time during blue simulations. Although adherence modified advanced cardiovascular life-support protocol high, breaches that carry additional infectious risk reduce efficacy resuscitation team observed.