Implementation of Practice Standards for ECG Monitoring

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The purpose of this study is to test the effect of implementing new practice standards for electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring on nurses' knowledge and skills, quality of care, and patient outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that increased knowledge and skills of nurses will lead to enhanced quality of care, which will result in improved outcomes for patients.

Detailed Description: Despite advances in hospital electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring technology, monitoring practices are inconsistent and often inadequate. The investigators recently published practice standards for ECG monitoring. The primary purpose of this 5-year multisite randomized clinical trial is to test the effect of implementing these standards on nurses' knowledge and skills, quality of care, and patient outcomes. The investigators expect that increased knowledge and skills of nurses will lead to enhanced quality of care, which will result in improved outcomes for patients. Units serving cardiac patients in 17 hospitals will participate. Hospitals will be randomized to the experimental or control group after baseline measures of knowledge and skills, quality of care, and patient outcomes are obtained. The intervention will include ECG monitoring education and strategies to implement and sustain change. The online education will include 4 modules: essentials of ECG monitoring, arrhythmia monitoring, ischemia monitoring, and QT interval monitoring. The strategies to implement and sustain change in the clinical area include reinforcement of education, incentives, and the designation of "champions" on each unit who will actively promote the implementation of the practice standards.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Nurses (and monitor technicians): All nurses (and monitor technicians) working on participating units serving patients with cardiac disease
Patients: All patients cared for on participating units

Exclusion Criteria

Nurses (and monitor technicians): No nurses (or monitor technicians) will be excluded
Patients: No patients on the participating units will be excluded, even if their primary diagnosis is not cardiac

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Education	Education	Online ECG monitoring education program and strategies to implement and sustain change for nurses

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Nurses' Knowledge and Skills Related to ECG Monitoring	Baseline, 15 months, 30 months	Participants took a 20-item online test on essentials of ECG monitoring, and arrhythmia, ischemia, and QT interval monitoring. Scores represent the percentage of correct answers. (Test scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing more correct answers)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Quality of Patient Care Related to ECG Monitoring	Baseline, 15 months, 30 months	Percentage of patients with accurate electrode placement, accurate rhythm interpretation, cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest initiated by arrhythmia, appropriate monitoring, telemetry units only, ST-segment monitoring when indicated, and QTc measurement when indicated
Patient Outcomes	Baseline, 15 months, 30 months	Mortality, in-hospital MI, and not surviving a cardiac arrest were obtained using administrative data and laboratory data (eg, troponin, CK-MB) for all patients. Mortality was defined as death that occurred on one of the participating units. To identify the occurrence of in-hospital MI, laboratory data, timing of procedures, and location of patient at the time of the first blood draw indicating the event were used. Cardiac arrest was defined as an event initiated by an arrhythmia that required immediate intervention and was initiated on a PULSE participating unit. For each qualifying cardiac arrest, it was determined whether the patient survived the event.

Locations (16): Maine Medical Center
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Portland, Maine, United States
Baystate Medical Center
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Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Baylor University Medical Center
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Dallas, Texas, United States
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
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Long Beach, California, United States
United Hospital
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Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
Aultman Hospital
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Canton, Ohio, United States
Erie County Medical Center
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Buffalo, New York, United States
Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital
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Hong Kong, China
Seton Medical Center
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Austin, Texas, United States
University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Canada
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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Meriter Heart Hospital
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Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
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San Francisco, California, United States
University of North Carolina Hospitals
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Yale-New Haven Hospital
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New Haven, Connecticut, United States