Mon, Apr 8, 2019 at 10:25 PM

Marshall South team gets special training in critical care for pediatric patients

COACHES program offered by Children's of Alabama addresses special needs of treating young patients who are critically ill or injured.

Members of Marshall South’s medical team recently participated in the Children’s of Alabama Community Healthcare Education Simulation (COACHES) program to expand their skills and expertise in caring for critically ill or injured pediatric patients.

Nurses and physicians in Marshall South’s emergency department, along with respiratory therapists within the hospital, participated in four simulations of pediatric emergency situations while being observed by COACHES program coordinators, healthcare professionals at Children’s of Alabama. 

During the scenarios, they provided care to an infant-sized simulation mannequin as if it were an actual pediatric patient, performing assessments and procedures relevant to the emergencies. The mannequin’s features included the ability to cough, seize, breathe, have an IV placed, and make lung and heart sounds that could be heard with stethoscopes.

Immediate feedback

Following each emergency scenario, the medical team received immediate feedback from the COACHES coordinators on how the situations were handled and approaches that can be used when presented with pediatric emergencies in the future. Marshall Medical South will also receive a data-based report of their performance as well.

“The feedback from the scenarios is really going to be the most valuable thing because these are the experts. These are folks who deal with pediatrics all the time, so it will give us some feedback as to the things we are doing well and the things we need to improve on,” said Reneé Jordan, Director of Marshall South Emergency Department.

Tami Howard, Director of Education at Marshall South, also discussed the program’s benefit to Marshall Medical by serving as a continuing-education program about critical care for children.

“I think this is a great opportunity for our staff to learn more about patient care related to pediatrics. When we improve patient care, we improve patient safety also. Our staff already has pediatric education like pediatric advanced life support; this will serve as an adjunct from Children’s Hospital,” Howard said. 

“This is what they do all the time, so this is such an opportunity for us, as a community hospital, to provide this education our staff.”