Curriculum to introduce critical care nurses to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Abstract

Background Despite the growing use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in intensive care units (ICUs), no standardized ECMO training pathways are available for ECMO-naive critical care nurses. Objectives To evaluate a critical care nurse ECMO curriculum that may be reproducible across institutions. Methods An ECMO curriculum consisting of a basic safety course and an advanced user course was designed for critical care nurses. Courses incorporated didactic and simulation components, written knowledge examinations, and electronic modules. Differences in examination scores before and after each course for the overall cohort and for participants from each ICU type were analyzed with t tests or nonparametric equality-of-medians tests. Differences in postcourse scores across ICU types were examined with multiple linear regression. Results Critical care nurses new to ECMO (n = 301) from various ICU types participated in the basic safety course; 107 nurses also participated in the advanced user course. Examination scores improved after completion of both courses for overall cohorts (P