The purpose of this study was to analyze the cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills and teamwork of nurses in simulated cardiac arrests in the hospital.

A descriptive study was conducted with 35 teams of 3 to 4 registered nurses each in a university hospital located in Seoul. A mannequin simulator was used to enact simulated cardiac arrest. Assessment included critical actions, time elapsed to initiation of critical actions, quality of cardiac compression, and teamwork which comprised leadership behavior and communication among team members.

Among the 35 teams, 54% recognized apnea, 43% determined pulselessness. Eighty percent of the teams compressed at an average elapsed time of 108 ± 75 seconds with 35%, 36%, and 67% mean rates of correct compression depth, rate, and placement, respectively. Thirty- seven percent of the teams defibrillated at 224± 67 seconds. Leadership behavior and communication among team members were absent in 63% and 69% of the teams, respectively.

The skills of the nurses in this study cannot be considered adequate in terms of appropriate and timely actions required for resuscitation. Future resuscitation education should focus on improving the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation including team performance targeting the first responders of cardiac arrest.