Use of an arrhythmia simulator for the evaluation of nurses' knowledge and as a teaching tool

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the usefulness of an arrhythmia simulator: (1) for measuring the different skills of nurses in recognizing the arrhythmic events on the ECG monitors (2) as a teaching tool for improving the nurses' efficiency. Using an arrhythmia simulator connected to the same ECG monitors used in the nurses' working places we proposed 25 arrhythmic events to 28 nurses (group A) with no experience of intensive care (CCU), and to 6 nurses with at least 3 years of experience in CCU. Group A attended a course and was finally reevaluated. The sensitivity and specificity in detecting the arrhythmic emergencies were respectively: 91.7% and 66% for group A; 88.9% and 93.9% for group B; 91.1% and 95.7% for group A after the course. So our conclusion is that the use of this simulator is an excellent tool for measuring and improving the nurses' efficiency.